Life beyond Brexit: Policy Roadmap for U.S.-U.K. Digital Trade

The United States and the United Kingdom are the world’s leading exporters of digitally-delivered services, and much of their trade is with each other.

The United States exports more services (such as business, professional, technical, insurance, financial, and telecommunications services) than any other place in the world, and over one half of U.S. services exports are estimated to be digitally delivered.

The United Kingdom is the world’s second-largest services exporter and the biggest U.S. trading partner for digitally-enabled services. The United States and the United Kingdom are leading drivers of cross-border e-commerce—particularly for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME)—as well as leading innovators in such areas as fintech, govtech, and medtech. Both countries have increasingly been using foundational technologies, from blockchain to artificial intelligence, to perfect new applications and transform old processes. The potential for a vibrant and vast digital trade relationship is very exciting.

This policy report by Nextrade CEO Kati Suominen, Heather Conley, Senior Vice President at Center for Strategic and International Studies, and Allie Renison, Head of EU & Trade Policy at the UK Institute for Directors, offers a policy roadmap for a future digital trade agenda between the United States and UK.