The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade is pleased to announce that Alex Milward has been appointed His Majesty\u2019s Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for North America and His Majesty\u2019s Consul General to New York. He will take up the position\u00a0in August\u00a02026.<\/p>\n
Alex takes up the role at an important moment for the UK\u2019s relationship with North America.<\/p>\n
The UK and United States recently concluded an Economic Prosperity Deal, strengthening a trading relationship worth $437 billion (\u00a3332 billion). The UK is a leading investor in over 22 states nationwide, including New York, Texas and Florida.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s accession to CPTPP is also creating new opportunities with Canada, building on a bilateral trading relationship worth C$62 billion (\u00a334 billion) and supporting deeper collaboration in areas including AI, semiconductors, digital trade and advanced technologies.<\/p>\n
Alex brings more than 30 years of experience across the private and public sectors, spanning digital, energy, defence, pharmaceuticals, advanced manufacturing and professional services and more recently, as head of the UK\u2019s Carbon Capture programme at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.<\/p>\n
He will be supported by Deputy Trade Commissioner Alan Gogbashian\u00a0and Deputy Consul General\u00a0Mel Lawrence.<\/p>\n
Alex Milward said:<\/p>\n
I am honoured to be appointed His Majesty\u2019s Trade Commissioner for North America and Consul General to New York. The United States and Canada are among the UK\u2019s closest economic and cultural partners, and there is tremendous momentum in our relationships. From advancing the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal and major investment commitments, to deepening cooperation with Canada through CPTPP and our new Growth and Innovation Partnership, we are creating opportunities for businesses and investors across all three countries.<\/p>\n
I look forward to building on these strong foundations, supporting UK companies to grow internationally and attracting investment that delivers jobs, innovation and prosperity across the UK.<\/p>\n
Alex replaces\u00a0Oliver Christian\u00a0MVO, who has served as HM Trade Commissioner for North America since\u00a0April\u00a02025.<\/p>\n
Oliver Christian MVO said:<\/p>\n
It has been a privilege to serve as His Majesty\u2019s Trade Commissioner for North America at a defining\u00a0period\u00a0for the UK\u2019s relationship with the United States and Canada.\u00a0In just\u00a0the past year, we have strengthened our economic ties across the continent, supported the conclusion of the UK-US Economic Prosperity Deal, advanced record levels of trade and investment, and helped deliver landmark moments in the bilateral relationship, including President Trump\u2019s State Visit to the United Kingdom and Their Majesties\u2019 recent visit to the United States.<\/p>\n
These achievements reflect the strength of our partnerships and the outstanding work of teams\u00a0and dedicated public servants\u00a0across government and our network in North America.<\/p>\n
Role of the HM Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for North America<\/p>\n
The HM Trade Commissioner (HMTC) for North America cooperates closely with the wider diplomatic network and other colleagues to coordinate the government effort overseas to promote UK trade and prosperity.<\/p>\n
The Trade Commissioner has full responsibility for all Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade work in the United States of America and Canada, including:<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Growing the overall trade and investment relationship<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Improving market access for British companies, including small and medium sized businesses (SMEs)<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Developing trade policy<\/p>\n
\u00b7 Connecting emerging UK sectors, from foundational research through to scaling-up innovative firms, with North American markets and investment opportunities<\/p>\n
The\u202fHMTC\u202falso works closely with the wider diplomatic network and UK based colleagues to coordinate\u202fHMG\u202factivity on our wider prosperity agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade is pleased to announce that Alex Milward has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":294292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-733464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/294292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}