asked Her Majesty's Government:What percentage of the United Kingdom's total visible exports and imports and, separately, of the United Kingdom's invisible exports and imports, were accounted for by trade with the United States in 1978, 1988 and the last complete year; and what measures are being taken by HM Government to increase the United Kingdom's exports to the United States. [HL854]
:
| UK trade with the US | ||||||
| 1988 | 1998 | |||||
| US £" million | World £ million | US share % | US £ million | World £ million | US share % | |
| Exports | ||||||
| Goods | 10,704 | 80,346 | 13.3 | 21,702 | 164,132 | 13.2 |
| Services | 6,255 | 26,927 | 23.2 | 14,106 | 60,070 | 23.5 |
UK trade with the US
| ||||||
1988
| 1998
| |||||
US £ million
| World £ million
| US share %
| US £ million
| World £ million
| US share %
| |
| Investment | ||||||
| income | 12,648 | 56,550 | 22.4 | 24,153 | 111,365 | 21.7 |
| Transfer | 151 | 3,830 | 3.9 | 1,428 | 15,596 | 9.2 |
| Total | 29,758 | 167,653 | 17.7 | 61,389 | 351,163 | 17.5 |
Imports
| ||||||
| Goods | 10,499 | 101,826 | 10.3 | 24,853 | 184,897 | 13.4 |
| Services | 4,117 | 22,970 | 17.9 | 10,073 | 47,817 | 21.1 |
| Investment income | 13,310 | 51,984 | 25.6 | 28,992 | 96,191 | 30.1 |
| Transfer | 286 | 7,348 | 3.9 | 1,486 | 22,122 | 6.7 |
| Total | 28,212 | 184,128 | 15.3 | 65,404 | 351,027 | 18.6 |
| (Information for trade, other than in goods, was not broken down by partner country prior to 1988.) | ||||||
Her Majesty's Government have been very active in recent years in encouraging more UK exports to the US. For example, in November 1998, the Department of Trade and Industry launched its Export USA programme (now under British Trade International) designed to give small- and medium-sized companies the knowledge and confidence to do business in the US market. Over 100 companies are currently in the programme.
Export USA is an addition to the full programme of promotional events already organised or supported by British Trade International. These events are designed to increase companies' awareness of the huge opportunities that exist for them in the US as well as helping them to understand various aspects of US business practice. The majority are sectorally focused, these sectors including aerospace, biotechnology, giftware, food and drink, creative and media and IT and electronics. In the coming year, British Trade International will be offering support for over 20 sectorally-focused trade missions to the US and for 99 exhibitions and seminars in the US—the latter being the largest ever programme for US events under the Support for Exhibitions and Seminars Abroad (SESA) scheme.
In 1999–2000, British Trade International ran over 30 specific US-focused events in the UK. A full programme is planned for 2000–01, specific examples being support for the largest group of UK biotechnology companies to visit the US Bio 2000 event in Boston; support for a visit to the UK by representatives of NASA to tell UK companies about the opportunities for them in the space and related industries; and an ongoing series of workshops on specific topics such as marketing in the US through the Internet, product liability and exhibiting at US trade shows.
As well as promotional work here in the UK, Her Majesty's Government also have 12 British Consulates across the US (including Denver, which will open shortly), where the commercial staff (now under British Trade International) are very active in UK export promotion, continuing to provide specific and
tailored help to UK companies looking to export to the US as well as to identify specific sales leads from US companies that are made available to UK companies via the TradeUK website.