United States and United Kingdom Agree to Address Shared Challenges from China
The United States and the United Kingdom today announced that we reached an understanding in the large civil aircraft dispute and agreed to address shared challenges from China. The framework builds on the New Atlantic Charter and our announcement earlier this week that the United States and the European Union reached a similar deal.
During President Biden’s travel to the United Kingdom and Belgium, he made clear that democracies have to show that they can meet the challenges and deter the threats of this new age. And, he was clear that the United States could lead the world’s democracies in a foreign policy for the middle class.
The U.S. and the U.K. helped the world organize around clear rules of the road after World War II based on shared democratic values, fair competition and transparency. And President Biden made clear that a stronger relationship between our two countries would be a top priority for his Administration. This framework demonstrates that our early efforts to work with our friends and allies have been successful.
The U.S. and U.K. will not impose tariffs for five years, and we will work together to counter China’s non-market practices in this sector. This understanding represents a model that the U.S. can build on for working with our allies on shared interests, and it includes collaboration on inward and outbound investment, tech transfer and know-how.
This deal will also shore up the longer-term competitiveness and innovation of a key sector that is one of most important sources of middle-class jobs at home. The aerospace sector employs over 500,000 workers directly and supports over 700,000 jobs in related industries. Boeing itself employs over 140,000 workers across all 50 states. Through its supply chain, it purchases over a billion parts from over ten thousand American businesses.
Both sides agreed to the following general principles to guide their future cooperation:
We will not impose the tariffs related to this dispute for five years. This signals a mutual determination to strengthen our special relationship. The understanding also retains flexibility for the U.S., and we will not enforce tariffs so long as we are satisfied that U.S. workers and producers can compete fairly.
Establish a Working Group to analyze and overcome any disagreements that may arise between the sides. The Working Group will collaborate on and continue discussing and developing these principles and appropriate actions. The Trade Ministers leading the Working Group will consult at least yearly. The Working Group will meet on request or at least every 6 months.
Ensure that our workers and industries can promote fair competition. The U.S. and U.K. agreed to clear statements on acceptable support for large civil aircraft producers, including a shared intent that any financing of the production or development of large civil aircraft be on market terms.
Confront the threat we face from China’s ambitions to build a sector upon non-market practices, including:
• Meaningful cooperation on countering (1) investments in the U.K. and the United States by non-market actors, which can lead to the appropriation of technology; and (2) outward investments into China that are influenced by non-market forces.
• Identifying where joint work is needed to take parallel action against non-market practices.
• Sharing information regarding these and other areas to forge a common approach in the large civil aircraft sector.
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