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US to invest £150bn in UK, promising thousands of jobs

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US to invest £150bn in UK, promising thousands of jobs


A record-breaking £150bn package of US investment into the UK has been announced during US President Donald Trump’s State Visit.

The UK government is calling this the largest commercial deal of its kind and expects it to create more than 7600 “high-quality jobs” across the country.

A large majority of the money will come from Blackstone, the world’s largest alternative asset manager, which has unveiled plans for a £90bn investment in the UK over the next decade.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the investments “are a testament to Britain’s economic strength and a bold signal that our country is open, ambitious, and ready to lead”.

“Jobs, growth and opportunity is what I promised for working people, and it’s exactly what this State Visit is delivering,” he added.

On Thursday, major UK and US investors will meet the Prime Minister and President Trump at Chequers to discuss how both countries can go further to deepen their economic ties and future collaborations.

Blackstone previously announced in June that it would invest £370bn in Europe over the next decade.

Earlier this week, Microsoft pledged to spend £22bn in the UK over the next four years, and Google pledged £5bn over the next two years to expand an existing data centre in Hertfordshire.

These investments will also help act as a powerful counterweight to the exodus of investment seen in the pharmaceutical sector.

However, the investments announced by Google and Microsoft are less than 4% of their annual spend, and the 7,600 jobs it is hoped to be created is a small number compared to the 160,000 payroll jobs lost since last year.

Blackstone’s large investment is in addition to the £10bn it previously announced for data centre development in the UK.

Real estate investment trust Prologis is also set to invest £3.9bn into the UK’s life sciences and advanced manufacturing.

Palantir will invest up to £1.5bn in UK defence innovation and plans to create up to 350 new jobs.

American tech company Amentum plans to create more than 3,000 jobs and expand its UK workforce by over 50%.

Boeing has said it will convert two 737 aircraft in Birmingham for the US Air Force, which would be the first USAF aircraft built in the UK for over 50 years, and could create 150 high-skilled jobs.

US Engineering firm, STAX, has also committed up to £38m to expand its UK operations.

The 7,600 total jobs promised are intended to be in all areas of the UK.

This is set to include 1,000 new jobs in Belfast and 6,000 more roles from Glasgow to Warrington, the Midlands and the North-East.

Business and trade secretary Peter Kyle said the deal reflects growing confidence in the UK’s industrial strategy.

“These record-breaking investments will create thousands of high-quality jobs across the UK,” he said.

“It’s a clear sign that our Plan for Growth is delivering for working people.”

The government said it wants to give “real opportunities for working people”, including apprenticeships in clean energy and careers in biotech and AI.

This comes ahead of the signing of the Tech Prosperity Deal on Thursday, which is a major new deal to accelerate the building of new nuclear power in both the US and the UK.



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Australia fuel crisis: Panic buying prompts PM to reassure nation over fuel supply

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Australia fuel crisis: Panic buying prompts PM to reassure nation over fuel supply



Anthony Albanese says nation’s supply remains “secure” amid reports of panic buying and shortages.



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Meta and YouTube found liable in social media addiction trial

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Meta and YouTube found liable in social media addiction trial



A woman has been awarded $6m in a verdict that could have implications for hundreds of other cases in the US.



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Target faces a new boycott over ICE response as retailer presses ahead with turnaround

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Target faces a new boycott over ICE response as retailer presses ahead with turnaround


A major teachers’ union is calling for its members to skip Target when buying back-to-school supplies, the latest twist in a series of boycotts that have targeted the big-box retailer as its turnaround shows signs of life, CNBC has learned.

The AFT, or American Federation of Teachers, passed a resolution Thursday that calls on its 1.8 million members and others to shop at local stores and not at Target, saying the company did not respond adequately to the surge of federal immigration enforcement in the retailer’s hometown of Minneapolis this winter. Federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, during the operation.

The labor union, which is affiliated with the AFL-CIO, plans to urge a similar resolution at AFL-CIO’s convention in Minneapolis this summer and at conventions held by other organizations, including the NAACP and LULAC, AFT President Randi Weingarten said.

Target declined to comment specifically on the AFT’s resolution but said in a statement that it has “a longstanding commitment to strengthening the communities we serve,” including donating 5% of profits since the company’s founding and offering a discount to educators as part of a teacher appreciation program.

Target’s annual sales have declined for the past three years in a row, but the company’s new CEO Michael Fiddelke laid out an ambitious plan earlier this month to refresh its stores, add more enticing merchandise and return to sales growth. The retailer said it expects net sales to rise about 2% this fiscal year compared with the prior year and anticipates sales will grow every quarter.

It is unclear if and how much the AFT’s call for a back-to-school boycott could hurt Target, which is trying to win back customers. Earlier this month, Atlanta area pastor Jamal Harrison Bryant announced the end of a yearlong boycott of the company, called Target Fast, which had started because of the company’s rollback of major diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

At a press conference, Bryant said Target has demonstrated its commitment to the Black community with investments in Black businesses and donations to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Yet other activists leading a separate boycott, including former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, have said they continue to call for shoppers to steer clear of Target.

The AFT previously supported and participated in the Target boycott over its DEI rollback.

The retailer has attributed some of its sales losses to backlash to its DEI decision, along with other factors including company missteps with merchandise, a weaker store experience and softer discretionary spending.

At an investor meeting in Minneapolis in early March, Fiddelke stressed that it’s “a new chapter for Target.” He said the company is “doing the work to build connection with new guests, deepen relationships with existing guests and earn back trust with guests we’ve disappointed.”

In a separate email to Target employees earlier this month, Fiddelke highlighted how the retailer is putting its strategy into action, including through its move to cut prices on more than 3,000 items and the opening of its 2,000th store. He said Target has made progress with winning back trust, too, noting the end of the Target Fast boycott.

He said Target has had “ongoing conversations with the organizers” of the boycott, who have “acknowledged the meaningful contributions Target has made, and will continue to make, to the Black community.”

In an interview with CNBC, Weingarten said the AFT’s boycott is focused on what she called Target’s lack of response to the surge of aggressive and violent immigration enforcement in its own backyard. Weingarten said the AFT sent a letter to Target and met with Target staff to encourage them to speak up before the union moved to pass the resolution.

“Target was negotiating with our colleagues in the civil rights community for weeks and weeks and weeks,” she said. “They could have very easily dealt with both [concerns about DEI and immigration enforcement] and they chose not to.”

She said Target is “more worried about standing with the Trump administration than the communities that made them a profitable company.”

Fiddelke joined dozens of executives from Minnesota-based corporations in co-signing a letter in late January calling for an “immediate de-escalation” in the state after the fatal shooting of Pretti. However, the letter did not name the shooting victims Pretti or Good or call out the president, his immigration policies or federal agents.

Fiddelke also shared a video message with employees that more directly acknowledged current events, but stopped short of calling for ICE agents to leave the city or for accountability in the two shooting deaths.

Weingarten described the CEOs’ letter as “insulting” and said it “basically blamed both sides.”

She said the union, which includes many teachers, can have the greatest financial impact during the back-to-school shopping season this summer and fall. By passing the resolution now, she said, the AFT can get the word out to members and “give Target enough time to come back to its senses.”



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