Global Business Briefing with Her Excellency Dame Karen Pierce, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the U.S.

On March 26, 2024, the Meridian Corporate Council hosted a Global Business Briefing with Her Excellency Dame Karen Pierce, Ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States. Moderated by Meridian CEO Ambassador Stuart Holliday, the discussion covered the UK’s ongoing prosperous socioeconomic relationship with the U.S. as well as the UK Embassy’s four priorities for maintaining strong ties with both the U.S. and Australia

About Her Excellency Dame Karen Pierce

Prior to arriving in DC, Ambassador Karen Pierce was the United Kingdom’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York since March 2018. Prior to this role, Ambassador Pierce served as the Director General for Political Affairs and Chief Operating Officer of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London, from 2016.

Ambassador Pierce joined the Foreign & Commonwealth Office in 1981. Her first role was in Tokyo between 1984 and 1987, after which she returned to the UK to work in the Security Policy Department. Ambassador Pierce worked in Washington as the Private Secretary to the British Ambassador to the United States between 1992 and 1995. Between 1996 and 2006, Karen held several positions in London including Team Leader for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova, Deputy Head of Eastern Adriatic (Balkans) Department, Head of Newsroom, Head of EU Department (Bilateral) and concurrently Head of Afghanistan Political Military Unit after 9/11 before returning to the Balkans as Balkans Coordinator from 2002 to 2006.

In 2006, Karen moved to New York for the first time to be the Deputy Permanent Representative and Ambassador at the UK Mission to the UN. In 2009, she returned to London to become the Director of South Asia and Afghanistan Department and the UK’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2012, Karen started her second multilateral role, this time in Geneva, where she was the Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UK Mission to the United Nations, World Trade Organization and Other International Organizations until 2015. Between 2015 and 2016 she was the UK’s Ambassador to Afghanistan.

Here are some takeaways from the program:

The United States and the United Kingdom have a unique and profound political and socioeconomic relationship, with trade and investment routes and a broad range of cooperations between the two, such as the first UK-US Science and Technology Agreement signed in 2017. The first of four priorities outlined by Ambassador Pierce is remaining a global partner in times of both war and peace. AUKUS is stronger than ever, and Britain is committed to increasing nuclear deterrent capacity, maintaining global stability, and working alongside NATO allies to prevent coercion and deter aggression. Total trade in goods and services between the U.S. and the UK reached $397.7 billion (£315.1 billion) in 2023. While the UK is the seventh largest trading partner of the U.S., the U.S. is the UK largest single trading partner, accounting for 17.7% of UK trade last year. In 2022, U.S.-made investments in the UK surpassed £1 trillion. British embassies and consulates aim to find new ways to connect different cultures and celebrate diversity through cultural programs, educational exchanges, and collaborative research, and 2022 saw the highest number of foreign workers in the UK since Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK is the third largest AI market in the world after the U.S. and China and valued at over $21 billion, and it plans to maintain close ties with the U.S. private sector as the market continues to grow.

This program was made possible through the support of: