The United States suspended the implementation of a technology deal it struck with the United Kingdom during Donald Trump’s visit to Britain.
The news was first reported by the Financial Times and comes at a time when frustrations are growing in Washington over the progress of trade talks with London.
The U.S.-U.K. “technology prosperity deal” was announced in September with the aim of spurring co-operation between the countries in the area of AI, quantum computing and nuclear energy.
British officials confirmed that the deal was suspended by the U.S. last week, with one saying the Trump administration was pushing for UK concessions in areas of trade outside the tech partnership.
“Our special relationship with the US remains strong, and the UK is firmly committed to ensuring the Tech Prosperity Deal delivers opportunity for hardworking people in both countries,” a UK government spokesperson told CNBC.
Trump has also been critical of digital services taxes imposed on companies by tech trading partners.
A UK official told the Financial Times that Britain’s digital services tax, which affects U.S. tech companies, was a serious problem.
“The digital services tax is a red herring,” the official briefed on the trade talks between the two sides said.
“We are down to negotiating some of the most difficult issues. Both sides expect this to take some time. But the dialogue remains open, active, and constructive.”
Another British official said their U.S. counterparts were “very tough negotiators, but we are pretty sure we can get this back on track”.
This came as the U.S. signed deals totalling £31 billion with major U.S. tech firms to build out the country’s AI infrastructure.
Some of the companies included Microsoft, Nvidia, Google, OpenAI, and CoreWeave.
The U.S. is the UK’s largest trading partner.
