As the UK's proposed trade deal with the USA continues to prove elusive, an agreement is to be signed with the US state of Florida in the meantime, according to trade minister Kemi Badenoch.
Badenoch, the secretary of state for the Department for Business and Trade, told Reuters she will sign a memorandum of understanding with Florida governor Ron DeSantis, which she said was the seventh state to agree such a deal.
Republican presidential hopeful DeSantis met Badenoch and foreign secretary James Cleverly in April, where they discussed the business and trade relationship, with Florida reporting that the UK is the top foreign investor in the state and Florida is a popular location for British businesses and tourists.
Badenoch told the newswire also that a US trade deal was "going very well" but "the last bits are often the trickiest bits".
Among the many mini-deals agreed between the UK and US as they fail to conclude long-running talks over a free trade agreement, prime minister Rishi Sunak and president Joe Biden in June signed a new “Atlantic declaration” aimed at bolstering economic security.