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COLUMBIA – Almost 240 years to the day since British forces left Charleston Harbor to end the American Revolution, they returned to South Carolina on December 7. Not to reclaim their former colony, but to find an answer to their trade post-Brexit. troubles
British State Trade Policy Minister Greg Hands, tasked with the daunting challenge of rebuilding the United Kingdom’s trade network, signed a memorandum of understanding with Governor Henry McMaster designed to promote trade between the Palmetto State and the UK. Statehouse.
When the UK withdrew from the European Union, it also pulled out of many of the bloc’s free trade agreements, forcing the island nation to negotiate and sign new agreements.
The British government wants to negotiate a free trade deal with the Biden administration, but with protectionism rife around Washington, Britons have instead gone door-to-door in statehouses across the country seeking state-level agreements to promote trade.
“Obviously, it remains our objective to still have a trade agreement with the United States … but I don’t think that’s going to be possible at the moment,” Hands told reporters. So “getting these statewide contracts, that’s a big part of our trade policy.”
Govt. Henry McMaster signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote trade with the United Kingdom. Alexander Thompson/Staff
British has already signed similar agreements with Indiana and North Carolina, and Hands will head to California and Utah later this week, he said.
The agreement with South Carolina does nothing more. Basically, he says the UK and the Kingdom will regularly discuss business opportunities and the British Consulate in Atlanta and the State Department of Commerce will form a working group.
But the British, faced with a bleak economic forecast, will take what they can get.
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