The UK Secretary of State for International Trade revealed that discussions are currently underway on Stateside. One of my ministers, Penny Mordaunt, is currently in California, having exactly those conversations, and she will be visiting Georgia and Tennessee, South Carolina and Oklahoma, according to Anne-Marie Belinda Trevelyan, 52. The negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal with the US began under the Donald Trump administration, but formal negotiations have not continued under Joe Biden. Boris Johnson, 57, received a hint that the deal was off, as Biden was not looking to close trade deals with any country at the moment. Talking about the US government, Ms Trevelyan stated that she understands why the Biden administration is focused on its domestic agenda rather than pushing forward trade talks. The Secretary of State for International Trade said: We stand ready to continue the negotiations with the team as and when there is the capacity to do so. Ms Trevelyan said that Ms Mordaunt will address issues such as easing barriers around the recognition of professional qualifications in order to boost trade in services, and gain access for UK businesses to state-level procurement. In 2017, Mr Johnson, who was serving as a foreign secretary, said that the UK was now in line to do a great free-trade deal with the United States. The talks on an all-encompassing deal have stalled, and discussions over steel tariffs suggest that the U.K. now has a weaker hand post-Brexit. The Trump administration imposed a 25 percent steel tariff, along with a 10 percent duty on aluminum imports in March 2018 on a range of countries, using a national-security provision in a 1962 trade law.
The EU brokered a deal with the US in October to ease the tariffs that had been imposed while the UK was still a member of the bloc. She said that by building relations at state level, the UK will help ease the approval process for any eventual federal-level free trade agreement. Ms Trevelyan continued: When we get to that point and the US is asking for the approval of the FTA that we finalize, it will require the support and voice of all of the states. So we can do a lot of the work now and build those relationships and make sure that businesses are pushing from your side on the US side to make sure we see the package that we want.