The new US-UK tech pact may offer political optics of partnership, but falls far short of real digital alignment, exposing widening policy divergence and limited strategic substance, says Paul Armstrong

The recently announced US-UK trade agreement was billed as a major reset in transatlantic cooperation, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer positioning the UK as America’s closest tech ally. His message was sharp: the UK and US are the only countries with a “trillion-dollar tech sector,” implying parity, shared ambition, and a unique bilateral edge in a fractured global tech landscape. On paper, it looked like a win. In reality, the deal reflects how thin real digital alignment remains and how quickly it could unravel.

For all the lofty language, the agreement stops well short of reshaping digital trade. There were no major breakthroughs on data flows, AI regulation, digital services taxation, or IP protection, issues at the core of today’s tech economy. The UK’s Digital Services Tax, a long-standing irritant for US tech giants, remains untouched. We continue to apply a two per cent levy on revenues from large digital platforms operating in the UK, a policy Washington has consistently argued unfairly targets US companies. Despite extensive lobbying, the Biden administration opted not to push the issue further. No resolution, no timeline, no guarantees. Just more can-kicking.

Tariff changes on steel, aluminium and autos made headlines, but digital was conspicuously absent from the main deliverables. All of which suggests one of two things: either the UK government knows digital alignment with the US is a longer-term play, or it knows that trying to hammer out a........

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