| ▲ | President Trump Signs Technology Prosperity Deal with United Kingdom(whitehouse.gov) |
| 52 points by donutloop 14 hours ago | 53 comments |
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| ▲ | rcpt 13 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| These press releases aren't great sources of news. Anyone got a different link? |
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| ▲ | 1659447091 13 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | "US firms pledge £150bn investment in UK as tech deal signed"
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2nllgl3q7o Had posted this a few days ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45285763 It's all related afaict | | |
| ▲ | bluecalm 12 hours ago | parent [-] | | It's not stated in the article but what US gets in return?
I guess some promises of political/tax policy stability. I am curious if there is anything official though. | | |
| ▲ | KaiserPro 12 hours ago | parent [-] | | I think the idea is that we(the UK) will buy small nuclear reactors from the US, and we'll develop ceramic uranium fuel system. | | |
| ▲ | moomin 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | This is wild if so. They’re basically saying the UK gets what it needs (investment) in return for something the Labour Right has always wanted (Nuclear). This is an insanely good deal from Starmer’s perspective. | | |
| ▲ | Herring 11 hours ago | parent [-] | | Well then Trump will unilaterally abandon it the second he figures that out. Clearly the UK's unfair trade practices have disadvantaged American workers for decades. |
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| ▲ | rebolek 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Isn’t there a British company, Rolls Royce SNR, that is building small nuclear reactors? | | |
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| ▲ | w14 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Don't know that this is any better, but here's the gov.uk version: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/us-uk-pact-will-boost-adv... and the follow up press release from Thursday: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/record-breaking-150bn-inv... | |
| ▲ | Yoric 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I'm not sure about this one. However, what I'm almost sure of is that neither the US-Japan Trade Deal nor the US-EU Trade Deal that Trump and WH announced loudly a few months ago were actual deals – they were essentially handshakes and non-binding declarations of intent by both parties, which also happened to have prerequisites that were (and still are) physically not possible. So, my guess is that this is essentially, once again, a camera-focused announcement. |
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| ▲ | hereme888 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Good. The West would likely benefit from strong international partnerships for advancing AI, nuclear, and quantum tech. Especially the part about helping the UK become Russia-independent for energy. |
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| ▲ | tialaramex 11 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > Russia-independent for energy It's specifically about nuclear fuel. The UK doesn't mine Uranium, but it does do fuel manufacture & imports from several countries. I wasn't able to find what, if any, "Russian" influence there is. Maybe the CEO at the fuel plant likes Russian vodka and now he'll be told to buy Polish instead ? | | |
| ▲ | nine_k 7 hours ago | parent [-] | | «The UK does not directly import Russian crude oil, refined products, or gas, having imposed a ban in late 2022 and early 2023 to counter the war in Ukraine. However, fuel derived from Russian oil is still indirectly imported into the UK through a loophole that allows Russian crude to be refined in other countries, like India and Turkey, and then sold to the UK.» (Gemini, but I'd have written the same.) | | |
| ▲ | tialaramex 7 hours ago | parent [-] | | Gemini thinks our nuclear power plants use "fuel derived from Russian oil" ? The text is about Nuclear fuel > The TPD also commits the UK to achieve full independence from Russian nuclear fuel by the end of 2028 This whole "deal" is largely waffle and nonsense, the two countries are going to somehow work together to achieve nuclear fusion with AI, and they're going to create a quantum supply chain, and this is going to unlock breakthroughs in health care... Stop trying to figure out what would make sense. Donald Trump has no idea what sense would be and Starmer is mostly just glad to avoid Donald deciding Farage should be Prime Minister now or whatever other nonsense he might decide on a whim. | | |
| ▲ | nine_k 6 hours ago | parent [-] | | No, UK power stations, trucks, and cars use fuel derived, at least partly, from oil pumped in Russia. |
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| ▲ | lazyeye 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Agreed. Its a great first step with hopefully more to come. | |
| ▲ | croes 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Trump killed that strong partnership, this is just a deal with an unreliable partner you don’t want to be dependent on. He will exploit as soon it fits his need.
Somehow worse than Russia | |
| ▲ | analognoise 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Is America under Trump/MAGA is really “the West”. If we’re using the federal government to shut down comedians, I think we have more in common with China/Russia/N. Korea? Especially when you consider illegally using the military to murder boats full of civilians, and banishment (not deportation) to random places. |
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| ▲ | amacbride 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Just the headline itself makes me think of the “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere” and we all know how that turned out. |
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| ▲ | snickerbockers 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Okay but we also know how it started, which was not as a bilateral trade agreement. I don't think imperial japan has eternally tarnished the concept of 'prosperity' in the same way that hitler forever tarnished that style of mustache. | |
| ▲ | kkkqkqkqkqlqlql 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Thought the exact same. Not even knowing the history of Japan, just from like one frame in the Bill Wurtz video where that name shows up. |
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| ▲ | KaiserPro 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| The problem with policy announcements from the current Whitehouse is that it requires us to believe that they are making policy and that it'll be enacted lawfully. I'm british, so this should be unvarnished good news. but I just can't imagine this will survive any time past the first bad fox news headline. |
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| ▲ | Hilift 10 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Trump doesn't do "policy". He is mostly trolling, and sometimes rambling. For anyone that doesn't understand or agree with them, they simply don't like you and it would be great if you weren't around. What Trump is doing was essentially the position of Thomas Dewey, had he been elected President in 1944, but Roosevelt concealed his health problems. Dewey was very specific that Democrat New Deal agencies and programs would be eliminated. It is the end of cooperative politics and compromise. Given the cognitive impairment, it is likely the beginning of what economists will be calling an "economic adjustment" (administration preferred language) due to AI and wasteful social programs. When cities like Denver want to take out a $1 billion loan to manage their budget, it doesn't bode well. Denver has few economic prospects, and has about $1 billion in existing debt. Los Angeles recently did the same thing. | | |
| ▲ | beefnugs 6 hours ago | parent [-] | | My best guess is now he thinks if he "owns a piece" so can then use withholding of the technology to the rest of europe to make "deals"/threats |
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| ▲ | cma 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | It may not be binding, without a treaty ratified by Congress, like the Iran nuclear deal under Obama, but which parts are illegal? If only the non-binding is the issue, I believe the supreme court has in the past few decades ruled treaties ratified by congress aren't binding either despite what the constitution says and that congress can undo them by not implementing them or something. | | |
| ▲ | paulryanrogers 7 hours ago | parent [-] | | > I believe the supreme court has in the past few decades ruled treaties ratified by congress aren't binding... This supreme court doesn't appear to be constrained by past rulings or even constitutional amendments. And 6 of 9 are on team whatever-Trump-wants. |
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| ▲ | alephnerd 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] | | Not everything in the White House is going through Stephen Miller. This announcement itself has Vance, Sankar, and Kupor's fingerprints all over it. For tech policy this admin is a basically A16Z and Founders Fund people, but the last admin leaned Sequoia Capital. This is why you see a lot of crypto (A16Z) this admin and GreenTech (Sequoia) the last admin. | | |
| ▲ | KaiserPro 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | > Not everything in the White House is going through Stephen Miller. No, but its not based on real law either. Its just whatever the leadership thinks it can get away with. If you can please the head of the court, then you can do what you want. if you fall out of favour, so do your plans. | | |
| ▲ | alephnerd 9 hours ago | parent [-] | | > but its not based on real law either. Its just whatever the leadership thinks it can get away with. I agree. We've ended up adopting the worst aspects of SpAds with none of the checks that come from a PS. DOGE lead to a large portion of the SES (our equivalent of the SCS except they don't make tea, bring biscuits, and act as bagmen for ministers) clamming their mouths. |
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| ▲ | SilverElfin 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | I think the crypto thing is even simpler - it’s self interest. It helps get votes on the right due to distrust in the federal reserve, it helps secure future political funds from a16z and others, and it literally makes Trump and his family rich from the meme coins. |
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| ▲ | VoodooJuJu 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | [dead] |
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| ▲ | mensetmanusman 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Nothing binding, just talking about goals: -The U.K. commits to buying over $80 billion from U.S. tech & defense companies over the next five years.
-The U.K. firm GSK (a pharmaceutical company) announced a ~$30 billion investment in AI R&D and infrastructure in the U.S. -There will be regulatory cooperation to speed up approvals/licensing in nuclear energy. |
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| ▲ | 724324hsG 12 hours ago | parent [-] | | It appears that the UK and the EU will buy weapons from the US for the Ukraine war (which the US, according to Trump, provoked) while the US is busy getting Venezuela and Greenland. Once accomplished the US will have complete energy dominance over the UK and the EU. | | |
| ▲ | ipaddr 11 hours ago | parent [-] | | Canada and Germany reached an deal/found buyer for new Canadian Germany trade route. Canada has a huge reserve of energy that matches well with Europe's needs. Trump's power slowly ticks away aw time passes. |
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| ▲ | ChrisArchitect 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Related: Britain jumps into bed with Palantir in £1.5B defense pact https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45313793 |
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| ▲ | area51org 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Anyone care to boil this down? |
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| ▲ | jfengel 12 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | It's a bunch of individual investments by large tech firms, going both ways. It wouldn't ordinarily require a government intervention, but both governments are in need of a win right now. (Brexit has limited the UK's access to Europe, and the US needs to show that the tariffs give it leverage.) These are all fine, and some things might even actually happen. (Deals like these tend to diminish as you get closer to money actually changing hands.) International cooperation is good. It's just a little weird that it had to happen between two countries who have been explicitly rejecting international cooperation. | |
| ▲ | Applejinx 13 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | [flagged] |
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| ▲ | moomin 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| I know a small bit about energy in the UK and one thing I know is this isn’t the first time a Labour government has taken a big swing for nuclear. Indeed, I suspect the exact same guy has been behind it both times. But it’s never happened, and I have to suspect this is because, as great as the technology is, the U.K. just doesn’t really need it and it’s not really commercially viable. Renewables plus batteries are already pretty competitive and are only getting cheaper and more effective with every passing year. Gas is still cheap and can take uo the base load slack. The only way this stops being true is if Putin turns the taps off, but he’s blinked too often on that front. |
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| ▲ | dazc 11 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | Renewables in the UK are intermittent, all at once at not at all. We also have a crazy scenario where we have so much wind power at times that it has to be turned off because the grid can't handle the load and battery storage is scarce - we then compensate the owners of the turbines for the income they lose as a consequence. Gas is very expensive here, we don't buy any from Putin, we import it from the US where it is liquefied, shipped thousands of miles and then un-liquefied for end use. Our businesses are dying trying to compete with countries that pay multiples less for energy than we do. More nuclear would give us long-term, uninterrupted supply - especially since small modular reactors can be located where the power is needed without needing the national infrastructure to be upgraded. | |
| ▲ | shadowgovt 11 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | The UK IIUC has a lot of offshore property they can put wind farms (I don't know what that does to traditional uses of the waters, such as fishing; I'm sure there's a row about it). In contrast, they have no domestic uranium sources, right? And while an idea like "One or two nuclear plants could provide for 100% of demand" sounds good, that means there's two locations to target to bring the entire grid down, which has strategic consequences. I'm pretty pro-nuclear and I concur that for the UK, I don't think the risk/reward chart actually pans out the way they want it to. |
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| ▲ | umrashrf 11 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Easier said than done |
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| ▲ | Yoric 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Am I the only one who notices that "Technology Prosperity Deal" would be a really good name for, say, a tech dominion over a distant, formerly powerful country, in any cyberpunk near-future fiction? |
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| ▲ | alephnerd 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Good to see some Biden-era initiatives are still sneaking through the cracks! Of course, a lot of this is 100% due to the alignment of a large portion of SV-turned-policymakers in both admins across the pond over the past 5 years. |
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| ▲ | ycombigators 12 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
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| ▲ | theturtle 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
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| ▲ | seydor 13 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
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| ▲ | SilverElfin 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Surprising given the disagreement with Starmer on Israel and the UK’s recognition of Palestine. On the one hand, the UK’s conditions for the recognition may never be met. On the other hand, it still looks like Starmer may be rewarding the actions of October 7 and distancing themselves from the US. |
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