Let us know how we can help you with your US/UK business endeavors. info@babcne.org

Message from Dr. Peter Abbott, OBE,

Nicola graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in English Literature. She loves both watching and playing sports. She has moved to Boston with her partner, Jacqueline, an academic research advisor with Georgetown University. They will be with us until 2028 and are really looking forward to life in Boston and to learning more about New England! 

The British American Business Council of New England (BABCNE) and the British Consulate in Boston and will hold their second annual America’s Cup sailing event in Newport, RI on the afternoon of Thursday June 20, 2024.

30 BABCNE members, business leaders and professionals will join British Government representatives including His Majesty’s Deputy Consul General Nicola Moss aboard one of three restored 1960s America’s Cup 10m yachts to race for the 2024 BABCNE America’s Cup, and gather afterwards for an informal networking event with refreshments.

These boats are the very same ones that competed (and won) the America’s Cup for the USA in the 1960s and 1970s, and sailing them and getting a hands on afternoon at the helm is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The online event brochure is available here and, with only 10 guests per boat (plus a professional crew to help guide us) we anticipate another sell out this year.

Tickets cost $1,250 for a corporate pack of three tickets (including branding and links on web, social media posts) and individual tickets are available at $350 each.

This year the event will be headline sponsored by Marsh McLennan Agency, and we already have a number of corporate partners on board, so tickets will be limited and offered on a first come first served basis.

If you would like to join us be sure to contact Urszula at info@babcne.org and reserve your tickets ASAP.

Late July: Member Appreciation evening on the waterfront with Highclere Castle Gin.

August 31: A British gathering at the US/UK polo match, RI.

December 6: 36th Annual Christmas luncheon, which opens the Holiday Season in the NE business Community. Would you like to market your company to this targeted audience of executives involved in Transatlantic trade? View the sponsor options here!

Have an idea for a program? Want to host an event? Let us know! info@babcne.org

You may be interested in viewing the events of the twenty chapters of the British American Business Network. The BABCNE is a founding member of this network.

The complete event list, which is updated monthly, can be accessed on this link: https://babn.org/events/

Save the date!

September 18-20, 2024, Charlotte, North Carolina

Each year, the BABN brings together members of all 20 chapters throughout the US, UK and Canada for a 3-day conference. The aim is to convene a senior level business executives and government representatives actively involved in trade, investment and business flows between the UK and US. ​

This conference is by invitation only and for members of the BABN chapters and offers a series of roundtables, plenary sessions and networking receptions for over 150 guests. ​

View Picture Gallery from 2023 Conference in London

https://babn.org/benefits/conference/

March 22, 2024

BritishAmerican Business released a report offering a comprehensive analysis of the UK government’s state-level trade and investment strategy with the US. The report follows last week’s signing of the eighth trade pact, with the state of Texas.

Over the past two years, amidst stalled negotiations for a US-UK Free Trade Agreement, the UK has pursued enhanced economic collaboration with the US through a series of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed with individual states. To-date the UK has signed eight trade pacts with Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Washington State, Florida, and Texas.

BAB’s report offers a deep dive into the structure and objectives of each MoU as well as examining the areas and industries of focus, mechanisms for implementation and how progress will be monitored.

The paper argues that, while recent activities initiated by the MoU process suggest that things are going in the right direction, it’s now time to do the hard work to continue to deliver on the many ambitious commitments set out in the agreements.

In its report, BAB commends the UK government for its proactive approach to strengthening trade and economic ties with the US and welcomes recent agreements with economically significant states such as Florida and Texas. BAB would rather see a handful of agreements with larger states than dozens of agreements with smaller states that lack the required focus.

BritishAmerican Business (BAB) Trade & Investment Guide to the UK for US Companies

BritishAmerican Business (BAB) has produced the 2024 edition of Finding Your Way, the most comprehensive guidebook for US companies seeking to expand their business into the UK.

Finding Your Way provides essential information on the services that both the UK and US governments, as well as leading associations and networks offer to help US companies be successful. It also includes details and practical advice from leading private sector firms whose services can help companies with their expansion endeavors.

CITY A.M., Maria Ward-Brennan, Elliot Gulliver-Needham and Jessica Frank - Keys. March 13. 2024

A rising demand for private healthcare insurance has helped boost profits at Britain’s big insurers. City businesses are increasingly offering private healthcare insurance as an employee benefit when trying to recruit new staff, recruiters and insurers told City A.M.

Much of the demand has been driven by increasing waiting times on the NHS – with younger generations in particular valuing a work-sponsored workaround.

Brookings, Daniel S. Hamilton, Nonresident Senior Fellow - Foreign Policy, Center on the United States and Europe, March 21, 2024

U.S. trade ties with China and Mexico are significant. Yet neither is America’s top commercial partner among foreign countries. That distinction belongs to the United Kingdom. U.S.-U.K. goods lanes are much smaller than U.S. goods highways with China or Mexico. U.S.-U.K. services trade, however, is greater than U.S. services trade with China and Mexico combined—nearly $156 billion in 2022, the last year of available data, versus U.S.-Mexico services trade of $76 billion and U.S.-China services trade of about $68 billion.

The real difference, however, can be traced to massive mutual investment. At $1.74 trillion, U.S.-U.K. investment stock is over 11 times more than U.S.-China investment stock ($154.8 billion) and over 10 times more than U.S.-Mexico investment stock ($164.1 billion). U.S. FDI in the U.K. alone is greater than U.S. FDI in the entire Asia-Pacific region. Sales of American and British affiliates in each other’s markets in 2021 ($1.4 trillion) were 21 percent more than the combined sales of U.S. affiliates in all of Latin America (including Mexico) and Latin American affiliates in the United States ($1.1 trillion). Those investments also create jobs: U.K. companies are the largest source of onshored jobs in the United States, just as U.S. companies are the largest source of onshored jobs in the U.K.

The dense commercial linkages binding the U.S. with the EU, the U.K., and other European democratic market economies offer a solid geo-economic and geostrategic grounding from which each side of the North Atlantic can address those concerns.

CITY A.M. Chris Dorrell, April 11, 2024

Services exports reached a record £470bn in 2023, up seven per cent compared to the previous year adjusting for inflation.

The resilience of exports from the UK’s service sector has been a success story despite the feared impact of Brexit. Services exports reached a record £470bn in 2023, up seven per cent compared to the previous year adjusting for inflation.

Figures out April 10 showed that the UK was the world’s fourth largest exporter in 2022, up from seventh position in 2021, with the improvement attributable to the strength of the country’s services sector.

ATD, April 1, 2024

The UK artificial intelligence market is valued at more than $21 billion, the third-largest AI market in the world behind the US and China. In addition, according to the International Trade Administration's United Kingdom Artificial Intelligence Market 2023 report, the UK's AI market value will grow to more than $1 trillion by 2035.

To continue its progress in the AI sector, the UK government has announced a funding boost of 118 million British pounds (approximately 150 million US dollars) for AI skills. The money will directly support postgraduate research centers, 15 scholarships for international students, as well as efforts—such as the Backing Invisible Geniuses initiative, which identifies and nurtures high school talents in the International Science Olympiads—to encourage students to pursue careers in AI via AI- and data-focused courses.

CITY A.M., Laura McGuire, April 3, 2024

Morgan Stanley has agreed to stay in Canary Wharf for another 14 years, in a welcomed boost for the east-London banking district following a string of high profile departures.

The US investment bank has added over another decade to its lease, extending the agreement from its original end date of 2028 until 2038.

The deal with Canary Wharf Group, which owns the building, is a major vote of confidence for the docklands hub after the exit of a number of star tenants left many questioning how attractive the area is for business.

Presented “Prospects for Post Brexit Britain”

March 27. 2024, with Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs, Kings College, London and Director of the UK in a Changing Europe, a research network in London.

He is the author of numerous books and articles and has served as a special advisor to the House of Lords. His remarks can be viewed here

Addressing issues most common to diverse businesses seeking international sales expansion, this series of events will introduce reliable contacts, accurate information, and ready-to-use resources that will place you firmly on the road to exporting success. 

New England premiered of Ken Loach's THE OLD OAK. Playing in select theatres now.

The prolific filmmaker is only one of ten directors to have won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival not just once, but twice! You may be familiar with some of his films about the British working class, such as SORRY WE MISSED YOU, RIFF RAFF, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY, and more.

The future for the last remaining pub, The Old Oak, in a village of Northeast England, where people are leaving the land as the mines are closed. Houses are cheap and available, thus making it an ideal location for Syrian refugees.

"It may be time to change your relationship to power".

In the quest to advance women, MIT Sloan Dame Professor Fiona Murray and Senior Lecturer Elsbeth Johnson, co-faculty of the Women's Leadership Program, advocate for a critical shift towards embracing power.

Did you know that ITA publishes a variety of trade-related statistics and tools for public use? ITA's Industry & Analysis business unit maintains interactive dashboards and infographics providing trade and economic data on U.S. goods trade at the national, state, and metropolitan area levels. Most dashboards are updated monthly, while the country reports are updated semi-annually.

How to outsmart pickpockets while on holiday (according to a professional pickpocket)

The Telegraph, Greg Dickinson, Senior Travel Writer, April 9, 2024

Every year, thousands of British holidaymakers are pickpocketed while on holiday – but there are ways to protect yourself, points out a professional pickpocket.

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