The UK has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) designed to grow trade with Utah, a US state with a GDP of £201 billion in 2022 – equivalent to the economy of New Zealand.

The pact, signed by International Trade Minister Nigel Huddleston and Utah Governor Spencer Cox, is the fifth arrangement of its kind between the UK and a US state and signifies a milestone in the UK’s trade ties with Utah.

The pact aims to strengthen our trading relationship with Utah, establishing a framework to unlock export opportunities for UK businesses, encourage investment, and create jobs in the UK – contributing to the government’s priority to grow the economy.

The UK already has MoUs in place with Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, through which the UK is helping companies meet new commercial partners to develop their businesses. We are actively engaging with states including Texas, California, Colorado, and Florida to strengthen trade ties.

International Trade Minister Nigel Huddleston said:

Our MoU with Utah builds on our existing strong relationship by helping us unlock new opportunities for British businesses, particularly those in the fintech sector in which Britain is a global leader.

The deals we have agreed with US states are already supporting UK businesses to grow their commercial links across the Atlantic. I am delighted to welcome the delegation from North Carolina to the UK this week, as businesses seek to reap the rewards from our pacts and deepen economic ties.

UK companies already employ over 10,000 people in Utah and exported £219 million in goods last year, with the MoU seeking to boost this further. Utah exported £5.7 billion worth of goods to the UK in 2022, making it Utah’s top international goods export market. Exports to the UK supported over 38,000 jobs in the state in 2019.

The UK is a global centre of fintech, and the Utah MoU is the first agreed by the UK with any US state which includes fintech as a priority sector. The MoU also promotes cooperation on aerospace, an industry which employs over 100,000 people across the UK, building on shared expertise in areas such as small satellites.

The pact further enables collaboration on supply chain resilience, including critical minerals, capturing Utah’s position as a major source of critical minerals for the US market and supporting the UK’s critical minerals strategy.

In addition, the MoU facilitates joint work on life sciences, building on a strong UK industry which generated £94 billion in turnover in 2021.

More broadly, the MoU seeks to expand market access in areas such as government procurement and recognition of professional qualifications – to help Brits deliver services in Utah and vice versa and boost British services exports.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said:

We have an excellent working relationship with the British Consulate in Los Angeles and our counterparts in the UK. This agreement will lead to more exchange of best practices, government-led missions, private-sector partnerships, academic cooperation and capital investment, and we look forward to the increased collaboration.

Clayton Walker, Chief Operations Officer, Rio Tinto Copper based in Salt Lake City, Utah said:

With Rio Tinto’s headquarters in the UK and the operational excellence of our 120-year-old Kennecott mining operations in Utah, our success stands as a testament to the longstanding and close relations between the UK and Utah.

We are excited to see this relationship strengthening through the signing of this MoU, as we continue to find better ways to provide the critical minerals that the world needs to make our modern everyday life possible.”