The United States has always been a key market for countries trading around the globe, especially China, Japan and Germany. Although bilateral Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is led by the United States and United Kingdom and services trading between the two friends is ranked first, trade between them is only ranked 10th in terms of total exports & imports (2022 Q1 – US Census bureau). The UK comprised 5% of total U.S. trade, and the United States was about 20% of total UK trade.
We often tell clients that the U.S. should be viewed as 50 separate countries. Each State has their own key industries and view on international business. California often tops the destination list – the U.K has enjoyed tremendous success there. The UK supports over 110,000 jobs across almost 2500 companies in California and that amounts to an impressive 15% of all employees in California working for foreign owned corporations.
A report out this month showcases the success the U.K. has had in California and clearly demonstrates that businesses from the United Kingdom play a significant role across a wide range of industries in California, from global brands such as Deloitte, HSBC and Experian in the business and information space to Princess Cruise Lines and Six Continents Hotels in tourism and hospitality.
California is all about entrepreneurship and during a briefing that accompanied this report we were not surprised to see California lead the world in terms being a destination for entrepreneurs or that the UK was consistently ranked in the top 5 countries globally. With California now ranked as the 5th largest economy in the World and the UK ranking sixth, we expect to see a sizeable bounce back between these good friends as the Covid pandemic diminishes.
