Trump UK State Visit

President Trump’s unprecedented second UK state visit last week, from September 16 to 18, combined royal pageantry at Windsor Castle with substantive dealmaking at Chequers. He was welcomed at Windsor on September 17 by King Charles III, Queen Camilla, and the Prince and Princess of Wales with a full ceremonial reception and a state banquet. On September 18, President Trump met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers for a bilateral session, after which the leaders addressed a variety of issues in a joint press conference.

Tech Cooperation and Private Sector Commitments

The centerpiece of the visit was the signing of a “Technology Prosperity Deal,” designed to expand U.S.–UK cooperation on frontier technologies and paired with announcements of a combined £150 billion in investment commitments by major tech firms, that are primarily targeted at building UK AI infrastructure. High-profile CEOs attended various aspects of the visit, from the state dinner to the reception at Chequers, including Jensen Huang (Nvidia), Tim Cook (Apple), Sam Altman (OpenAI), Alex Karp (Palantir), Ruth Porat (Alphabet), and Satya Nadella (Microsoft).

The Tech Prosperity MOU itself is focused on cooperation in the cutting-edge sectors of AI, civil nuclear, fusion, and quantum technologies, with White House statements indicating that the partnership is intended to strengthen institutional ties in these sectors on standard setting and interoperability, research and development, information and data sharing, and regulatory body cooperation. The public press conference did not touch on the UK’s Digital Service Tax (DST), which applies a 2% levy on revenues of large digital platforms operating in the UK and remains a persistent source of concern for the U.S. administration and U.S. technology firms which are disproportionately targeted by this tax. The U.S. administration, as well as the U.S. companies making these investments, may view these commitments as an opportunity to make clear to the UK government why a lighter regulatory touch is preferable and why a path towards withdrawing discriminatory and onerous regulations must be found, including with regard to the DST, the new UK Online Safety Act, and the UK Digital Markets, Competition, and Consumers Act.

U.S. investments in the United Kingdom include: 

• Nvidia’s significant commitments include: a pledge of up to $15 billion for AI infrastructure, which includes partnering with UK cloud provider Nscale to build data centers with Blackwell GPUs, working with Oxford Quantum Circuits to build an AI supercomputing center, and launching an R&D hub with UK trade association techUK.
• OpenAI pledged to build new data center infrastructure to support a UK offshoot of its Stargate project, including working with Nscale to build a new facility in northeast England.
• Google has also pledged $6.8 billion in investments in the UK over the next two years, including construction of a new data center and funding for London-based AI research laboratory DeepMind.
• Oracle expanded on its March 2025 commitment to invest $5 billion over five years in the UK, announcing that its UK Sovereign Cloud service will provide a common secure technology platform for AI infrastructure and generative AI capabilities to increase defense cooperation between the United States, UK, and NATO.
• Palantir will invest $1.9 billion to develop defense-focused AI systems and will establish its European defense headquarters in the UK, creating 350 high-skilled jobs.
• Microsoft’s commitment, a $30 billion global investment in AI and cloud infrastructure through 2028, will allocate approximately half of the investment to UK infrastructure, including support for the country’s largest supercomputer and training programs for developers.
• Salesforce extended a previous commitment, upping it from $4 billion to $6 billion to expand customer AI tools.
• CoreWeave made a $2 billion investment to expand AI data centers and operations.
• AI Pathfinder will invest $1.3 billion to build an AI data center in Northamptonshire.
• Blackstone plans to invest $112 billion in UK assets over the next decade, including $12.5 billion for new data centers.
• X-Energy and Centrica have announced plans to construct up to 12 advanced modular nuclear reactors in the UK, in line with the nuclear cooperation aspect of the Tech MOU.
• Amentum, a U.S. nuclear engineering firm, will invest $187 million and expand its UK workforce by over 3,000 jobs.
• Prologis is committing $4.9 billion to build life sciences and advanced manufacturing facilities in Cambridge and Daventry.
• Stax, a U.S. engineering firm, will invest $46 million to expand UK operations and develop emission-reducing technologies for ports.
• BlackRock plans to allocate over $9.5 billion to UK markets in 2026, including doubling its Edinburgh workforce and investing $625 million into UK enterprise data centers.
• Bank of America is investing in its first-ever operation in Northern Ireland, creating up to 1,000 jobs in Belfast as part of a broader investment in UK financial services.
• Citigroup is investing approximately $1.49 billion across its UK operations, including further expansion in Belfast.
• PayPal is committing approximately $202 million toward product innovations and growth initiatives in the UK.
• S&P Global is investing around $5.4 million into its Manchester office.
• Broadridge Financial Solutions is expanding its UK footprint with a new international headquarters in London and integrating 100 new employees via the acquisition of UK-based firm Signal.

UK investments in the United States include: 

• GSK, a leading British pharmaceutical company, is investing nearly $30 billion in U.S. research & development and manufacturing over five years. This includes $1.2 billion for new facilities and AI initiatives, creating hundreds of skilled jobs and strengthening UK–US collaboration in life sciences.
• BP plans to invest over $5 billion annually in the U.S. for the next five years, building on $160 billion already invested and supporting approximately U.S. 30,000 jobs.
• Urenco, a UK-based nuclear tech firm, and Radiant, a U.S. nuclear company, signed a $5 million deal to supply advanced fuel to the U.S. market for nuclear energy innovation.
• Sage, a UK tech firm, is committing $2.3 billion in operational spending in the U.S. over three years.
• OakNorth, a British digital bank, is investing over $5 billion in the U.S. over the next three years, helping create thousands of new jobs and expanding its fintech footprint.
• Rothesay, the UK’s largest specialist pensions insurer, will double its existing U.S. investments to $9.4 billion in the next few years across key sectors including public finance, residential and commercial real estate, and infrastructure.
• Revolut, a digital banking service provider, will invest over $500 million in the U.S. over the next three to five years.

Posture on Key International Issues

The wide-ranging joint press conference between Trump and Starmer was friendly and collegial, with Trump patting Starmer on the back at one point. On Russia and Ukraine, Trump expressed disappointment in Putin, criticized NATO allies for continuing to buy Russian oil, and threatened tariffs on China if it continues to purchase Russian oil. Starmer condemned recent Russian escalations, stating that Putin is “not ready for peace.” Trump emphasized his appreciation for NATO stepping up its military spending and for NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte’s approach.

Trump made news by hinting that the U.S. might return to Bagram airbase in Afghanistan, noting that it is “an hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons” and criticizing the chaotic 2021 pullout under the Biden administration.

On Gaza and Israel, Starmer called the humanitarian situation intolerable, denounced Hamas, and advocated for a peace framework that includes recognition of a Palestinian state, while Trump repeatedly denounced the October 7 attack, discussed getting aid into Gaza, and noted that Starmer’s commitment to recognize a Palestinian state is one of the few points of disagreement between the two leaders. When asked about the UK’s energy policy, Starmer reaffirmed his commitment to a balanced energy mix that includes renewables as well as fossil fuels, and Trump emphasized his previous comments about expanding oil and gas drilling in the North Sea and his view of wind energy as costly and ineffective. On migration issues, Trump suggested that the Starmer government should apply some of his administration’s policies, including using military involvement to stop illegal crossings.

Next Steps

Both governments will continue to iron out the details and begin implementation of the Tech Prosperity Deal in the weeks to come. Now that the UK has recognized Palestinian statehood, the U.S. government’s response may be guided by Trump’s measured approach to this point of disagreement during the press conference. On the bilateral trade relationship, which was largely minimized throughout this visit and only briefly mentioned during the press conference, the UK government will continue to press for movement on steel tariffs, which remain untouched at 25% in the April 2025 trade and which Trump briefly mentioned as he boarded Air Force 1 to head back to Washington. The U.S. administration will continue to push for the UK to find off-ramps from its digital policies, including its DST, digital markets, and online safety measures.

AGS will continue to monitor the bilateral trade and political relationship between the U.S. and UK and provide updates as necessary.

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