Overview
- British officials confirmed the United States froze implementation of the September technology pact last week after slow progress on wider trade issues first flagged by the New York Times.
- U.S. complaints center on the UK's 2% digital services tax, food safety standards and elements of the Online Safety Act, which Washington views as non‑tariff barriers.
- The agreement’s text says it only becomes operative alongside substantive progress on the broader trade framework, providing a formal basis for the pause.
- Headline corporate pledges of roughly £31 billion ($40 billion) for UK AI and cloud infrastructure—including about £22 billion from Microsoft and £5 billion from Google—are reported to remain in place for now.
- London says talks continue after ministerial meetings in Washington, with further discussions signalled for January as projects such as the proposed AI growth zone face timing uncertainty.