Global Tech & Trade Policy Update

28 Aug 2026 01:03 PM

Andy Burnham discusses UK-EU deal on train and signs AI deal in Ukraine 

Prime Minister Andy Burnham had talks with European Council President Antonio Costa on the train to Kyiv. The two discussed closer co-operation between the UK and EU, building on defence co-operation, and the UK-EU Summit, which the FT has suggested will be in November. Reports from Politico include speculation on how far Burnham is willing to go in talks with the EU, with the Prime Minister reportedly willing to grant home fees to EU students in exchange for UK inclusion in Made in Europe rules. What is certain though is that the PM has said he wants a closer deal with the EU to ‘add percentage points to growth’.  

The importance of the UK’s commercial partnership with the EU will be explored at techUK’s event in Brussels on 10 September: Towards a UK–EU Partnership for a New Age.  

The talks between Burnham and Costa came as the Prime Minister travelled to Kyiv for Ukraine’s Independence Day in his first official trip abroad since becoming Prime Minister. As well as reiterating the UK’s commitment to Ukraine and sharing missile blueprints with the Ukrainian military, the Prime Minister also oversaw an AI deal between the UK and Ukraine that will see the UK gain access to the Avengers AI Labs to develop defence AI technology. The deal provides UK researchers with Ukrainian battlefield data and is designed to enable co-operation on a range of fields in the future.  

BIST Ministerial Roles announced 

BIST ministerial roles were announced on 21 August. 

The portfolios announced largely corresponded with previous roles. Anas Sarwar’s brief as Minister of Trade is similar to Chris Bryant’s old portfolio. Blair McDougall MP’s role as Reindustrialisation Minister, meanwhile, gives him responsibility for implementing the Industrial Strategy, with the branding of Reindustrialisation suggesting a more regional focus than his predecessor’s.  

Kanishka Narayan MP, meanwhile, has had his portfolio confirmed as AI Minister, which includes AI policy, data infrastructure and AI sovereignty policy. What is a bit surprising is that global AI policy is not within his brief. Instead, Uma Kumaran MP in the FCDO will be responsible for global tech and AI.  

Aside from these, Sonny Leong as Minister for Small Business and Enterprise will also take education exports into their portfolio. Meanwhile, tech standards and smart data don’t head into BIST at all, but into DCMS with Liz Lloyd. 

US-Canada tariff negotiations breakdown 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced last week that he had ordered his negotiators home as talks between Canada and the United States broke down. According to the New York Times, the talks reportedly broke down as the two sides remained far apart and were not prepared to grant significant concessions to make a deal.  

The collapse of the talks means that United States and Canada will go forward with reciprocal tariffs. The United States will look to impose 50% tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, with Canada retaliating with measures of its own. There is a real danger of an escalation as each side retaliates to the other’s last measure. 

Continuing US and EU trade disputes with China 

The US and EU have seen their disputes with China continue and even evolve in recent weeks. 

The EU is continuing to try to address its trade imbalance with China, which Europe fears is causing Chinese manufacturers to undercut European producers. The situation has evolved as Politico reports, China is upset with how the EU is applying its Foreign Subsidies Regulation to the proposed takeover of Germany’s Ceconomy by Chinese firm JD.com. 

Meanwhile, the United States has accused Chinese firms of engaging in ‘transhipment’, the act of shipping a good from one country to another country via a third jurisdiction, to avoid tariffs, with the White House publishing a report, ‘The Great Transhipment Scam’, accusing around 40 jurisdictions of aiding Chinese firms avoid tariffs. The Chinese government denied the accusations, alongside jurisdictions named in the report.

Singapore intends to bid for the Multilateral Investment Tribunal 

Singapore will make a bid to host the Multilateral Investment Tribunal currently being negotiated by the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law. The Tribunal is an attempt to formalise and regularise the current arbitration system for trade deals due to a rise in investor-state disputes. 

Singapore’s bid to host the organisation revolves around Singapore’s status as an open trading economy, its domestic expertise, and its diplomatic network across the world. The increased amount of trade deal activity in Asia has also led Singapore to claim the new body should sit in Asia to be closer to the action. 

However, competition for the seat is reportedly set to be strong. 

Mercosur is looking for business 

Following on from its deal with the EU earlier this year, the FT reports that Mercosur is very actively looking to secure trade deals with a range of markets including Canada, the UAE, Vietnam and Indonesia.  

The report cites Argentina’s criticism of the bloc for being too insular as one source of pressure for liberalisation, with both Argentina and Uruguay seeking to join the CPTPP bloc in pursuit of free trade deals with other countries. 

The bloc includes Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina. The UK government is currently consulting on how it can deepen its trading relationship with Uruguay, alongside several other countries.

Trade Policy Activity Index reveals continued disruption 

The WTO and IMF’s Trade Policy Activity Index has tracked continued rises in trade policy activity, largely driven by a rise in restrictive measures. 

The Index has tracked global trade policy activity since the aftermath of the Financial Crisis. The latest round of the tracker has shown a significant increase in trade policy activity in the last two years. While this is partly driven by an increase in facilitating measures designed to ease trade, it is also driven by a significant increase in restrictive measures. 

The paper suggests trade policy activity is likely to remain high for the foreseeable future.