London and Tokyo agree on $24-billion investment deal

LONDON

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer (L) and Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi attend a business roundtable meeting at Downing Street in central London on June 14, 2026, as part of her governmental trip to the UK ahead of the G7 in France. (Photo by Toby Shepheard / POOL / AFP)

Britain and Japan have sealed a sweeping economic and technological partnership, expected to generate over 18 billion pounds ($24 billion) in investment, during a visit to London by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Takaichi held talks at his Downing Street office on June 14, ahead of them attending a G7 summit in France which began
on June 15.

In total, more than 10 trade agreements were signed, including a 9-billion pound offshore wind farm project, as Starmer hailed as "a new era of cooperation between our two countries."

The meeting also included a roundtable discussion with industry representatives from both nations.

The partnership includes a strengthening of collaboration between Rolls-Royce and Japan's Atomic Energy Agency.

The two countries also announced their intention to launch the U.K.-Japan Frontier Tech Partnership (FTP), a technology partnership aimed at seeing British research translated into scalable technology with Japanese investment in areas including AI and semiconductors.

On the defence front, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), which aims to develop a supersonic next-generation fighter jet and which Starmer said was at the heart of the bilateral relationship.

Total trade between the United Kingdom and Japan is currently worth around 140 billion pounds, according to the U.K. government.