CONSULTATION ON TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE UK

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) believes strongly in free, rules-based international trade and cross-border investment. With the United Kingdom (UK) preparing to negotiate trade deals independently of the European Union (EU), we look forward to the opportunity to create a comprehensive and forward-looking UK-United States (U.S.) free trade and investment agreement (FTA). We appreciate this opportunity to feed in our initial thoughts through your consultation.

The eventual terms that the UK and EU reach on their future relationship are yet to be determined. But that future relationship with the EU will form part of the context in which the UK makes its own trade policy, including with the U.S. Moreover, despite Brexit, SIFMA hopes to see continued and increasing trade, investment and regulatory cooperation between all three jurisdictions – the UK, U.S. and EU – in the future. Therefore, this contribution represents an initial outline of what UK and U.S. negotiators should be focused on as they approach potential negotiations rather than a definitive or exhaustive account of industry priorities.

The long-standing UK-U.S. relationship has important economic dimensions, underpinned by significant similarities in the structure and performance of financial services. London and New York remain the world’s leading financial centers. Financial services account for around seven per cent of GDP in both economies. The UK is both the largest consumer of U.S. financial services exports, and the largest supplier of U.S. financial services imports. Both are capital market-based financial systems, with similar regulatory philosophies.

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