Nearly 200 years after the Republic of Texas abandoned its London embassy – leaving behind an unpaid rent bill – the Lone Star State has reopened a diplomatic outpost just up the road.
A plaque still marks the former “Texan Legation” on the wall outside Berry Bros & Rudd, the St James’s Street wine merchant that housed the embassy until Texas joined the US in 1845. Now, a new trade office has opened nearby, designed to “grow international trade and tourism and support activities that are key to the economy,” according to the state.
“Texas opens a new trade office in London nearly 200 years after its historic embassy closed with an unpaid rent bill.”
The move comes as trade between Texas and the UK already stands at about $17bn a year. Senator Tan Parker, a Republican leader in the Texas State Senate, said one of the most compelling opportunities was “to look at dual listings between the London Stock Exchange and the Texas Stock Exchange.” He said he hoped it would create jobs for small and large businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.
It also follows Austin’s push to raise the profile of its own exchange as a challenger to New York – a project dubbed “Y’all Street”. The city’s mayor, Kirk Watson, told BBC London: “Austin 25 years ago was becoming a big international city and we are doing a lot to mature our way into that international role.”
Watson emphasised the importance of “subnational diplomacy” and “city-to-city relationships” amid “confusion and chaos on the world scene.” He stressed that “looking to places like London will help us with that,” adding that London could learn from Austin’s municipally-owned utility, renewables and climate initiatives. Both cities, he said, needed to work together on artificial intelligence and data centres in dense urban settings.
But the timing is curious. London is seen as a leader on the international business stage, yet a number of well-known UK companies have recently left the London Stock Exchange to sell their shares on foreign markets. Economist Alexander Harvey of Oxford Economics said the move follows “a period of mixed economic fortunes for London.” He noted: “While employment growth in the capital has been stronger than in the rest of the UK, productivity has broadly stagnated since the global financial crisis.”
Whether Texas can help reverse that trend – or whether its presence will remain as short-lived as the original legation – remains to be seen.