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Quest Means Business
King Charles Speaks at U.K. State Banquet for Trump; Trump Speaks at U.K. State Banquet; Top CEOs attend State Banquet; Federal Reserve Lowers Interest Rates by Quarter Point Amid Trump Pressure; Trump Attends State Banquet at Windsor Castle. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired September 17, 2025 - 16:00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CHARLES III, KING OF ENGLAND: -- might have been married off within the Nixon family.
Mr. President, from York to New York, from Birmingham, England, to Birmingham, Alabama, we are united by a common language and shared
heritage. The many thousands of people from each of our countries who have made the other their home have enriched our societies immeasurably -- a
fact that gives me the greatest pride.
Our cultural connections, too, continue to flourish, with our actors, musicians, writers and television presenters prospering in the hearts of
transatlantic audiences.
Today, our alliance spans every field of endeavor and shows vast potential for growth. The United Kingdom was your partner in the first trade deal of
your Administration, Mr. President, bringing jobs and growth to both our countries. And no doubt we can go even further as we build this new era of
our partnership.
Our two nations have an exceptional legacy of shared discovery. Together, we laid the foundations of nuclear science, mapped the human genome and
built the internet, upon which all contemporary commerce, communication and defense is based. Together, our scientists and engineers are shaping the
world of tomorrow, not least with new partnership agreements on technology, and the prosperity that stands to bring.
Our countries have the closest defense, security and intelligence relationship ever known. In two World Wars, we fought together to defeat
the forces of tyranny. Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression
and secure peace. And our AUKUS submarine partnership, with Australia, sets the benchmark for innovative and vital collaboration.
The successors of the British Redcoats and of George Washington's Continental Army today stand shoulder-to-shoulder, brothers and sisters in
arms, protecting the freedoms we both cherish. Our countries are working together in support of crucial diplomatic efforts, not least of which, Mr.
President, is your own personal commitment to finding solutions to some of the world's most intractable conflicts, in order to secure peace.
In striving together for a better world, we also have a precious opportunity to safeguard and to restore the wonders and beauty of Nature
for the generations who follow us. We share the ambition, and determination, to preserve our majestic lands and waters; above all, to
ensure that we have clean water, clean air and clean food.
Our legacy for the next 250 years and beyond is to ensure that our children, grandchildren, and those who come after them, can experience the
awe and magnificence of the natural treasures found in the countryside, on the coasts, in the seas and in the National Parks established by your
predecessors and mine.
Mr. President, Mrs. Trump -- the bond between our two nations is indeed a remarkable one. Forged in the fire of conflict, it has been fortified
through our shared endeavors and burnished by the deep affection between our people. Tested time and again, it has borne the weight of our common
purpose and raised our ambition for a better world.
So, in renewing our bond tonight, we do so with unshakeable trust in our friendship and in our shared commitment to independence and liberty.
Therefore, as we celebrate this unparalleled partnership, allow me to propose a toast to President Trump and the First Lady, and to the health,
prosperity and happiness of the people of the United States of America.
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Your Majesty, Melania and I are equally grateful to you and Queen Camilla for your
extraordinary graciousness.
And to William and Kate, thank you so much it has been so great being with you today. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
It is a singular privilege to be the first American President welcomed here, and if you think about it, it's a lot of presidents, and this was the
second state visit, that's a first and maybe it is going to be the last time. I hope it is actually.
But this is truly one of the highest honors of my life. I have such respect for you and such respect for your country.
For many decades, His Majesty the King has epitomized the fortitude, nobility and the spirit of the British monarchy and the British people.
He has dedicated himself to preserving the glory and unique character of this Kingdom, restoring life to the rivers and streams, supporting the
works of its artists and composers, planting trees and gardens in its countryside.
And I just visited one of the most beautiful I've ever seen that you just completed. And protecting the architectural integrity of cities, villages
and towns.
He has uplifted the poor, cared for rural farmers, and tended to wounded veterans like nobody else. I'll tell you that I just stood in line and
shook about 150 hands.
And the King knew every single person and every single company, and some of them had bad names like XYZ-Q3 and he knew every one of them, or at least I
think he did, because nobody was complaining. I was very impressed with that.
I just want to say that His Majesty has also raised a remarkable son in His Royal Highness Prince of Wales, really amazing.
We've gotten to know you and I think you're going to have an unbelievable success in future. Melania and I are delighted to visit again with Prince
William and to see Her Royal Highness, Princess Catherine so radiant and so healthy and so beautiful. It's really great honor. Thank you.
Many years ago, His Majesty opened his archives to a biographer. Among the documents was a letter from 1993 in which he described the patriotism and
guided as many projects.
He wrote that he was "... entirely motivated by a desperate desire to put 'the Great' back into Great Britain and the finest tradition of British
sovereigns." He has given his whole heart, everything he's got, to those parts of Britain that are beyond the realm of mirror legislation.
[16:10:18]
It's not easy. But which define its essence and its virtue, its harmony and its soul. It's an amazing calling. And there's nobody that's answered that
calling like you have.
And fifth of all, if humanity speaks, writes, thinks and praises the language born on these aisles and perfected in the pages of Shakespeare and
Dickens and Falkin, Lewis, Orwell and Kipling, who are incredible people, unbelievable people like we have rarely seen before, probably won't see
again.
The lionhearted people of this Kingdom defeated Napoleon, unleashed the Industrial Revolution, destroyed slavery, and defended civilization in the
darkest days of fascism and communism.
The British gave the world the Magna Carta, the modern Parliament, and Francis Bacon's scientific method. They gave us the works of Locke, Hobbs,
Smith, Burke, Newton, and Blackstone. The legal, intellectual, cultural and political traditions of this Kingdom have been among the highest
achievements of mankind -- there has really never been anything like it.
The British Empire laid the foundations of law, liberty, free speech and individual rights virtually everywhere the Union Jack has ever flown,
including a place called America.
You know that place very well, don't you?
His Majesty spoke eloquently about the bond which inspired Sir Winston Churchill, and his bust is in the Oval Office right now, the beautiful bust
of Winston Churchill, to coin the phrase special relationship. But seen from Americanized, the word special does not begin to do it justice.
We're joined by history, and faith, by love and language, and by transcendent ties of culture, tradition, ancestry, and destiny.
We're like two notes in one chord or two verses of the Saint Paul, each beautiful on its own but really meant to be played together.
The bond of kinship and identity between America and the United Kingdom is priceless and eternal. It's irreplaceable and unbreakable.
And we are, as a country as you're now, doing unbelievably well.
We had a very sick country one year ago, and today I believe we're the hottest country anywhere in the world. In fact, nobody's even questioning
it.
But we owe so much of that to you and the footing that you gave us when we started. Together, we've done more good for humanity than any two countries
in all of history.
Together, we must defend the exceptional heritage that makes us who we are, and we must continue to stand for the values and the people of the English
speaking world.
And we do indeed stand for that.
On behalf of all Americans, I offer a toast to one of the great friendships, to two great countries and to His Majesty King Charles, a
very, very special man and also a very, very special Queen.
Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. It is a great honor to be with you.
RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": There we have the toast, the second part of the toast from the President of the
United States responding to the very warm and generous toast from his majesty King Charles III, and as protocol will now dictate, if I am not
mistaken, they will sit down at some point, the feed -- well, their feed will begin. In other words, the menu of food will get underway. The feed of
cameras will stop at some particular point.
[16:15:21]
They're going to be feasting on panna cotta with shortbread and quail eggs, chicken ballotine with a savory jus, and then a vanilla ice cream bun with
a raspberry sorbet filling with Victoria plums.
King Charles was speaking at a banquet to mark the President and First Lady's second visit -- there is the menu -- to the U.K., the culmination of
an extraordinary day at the Royal -- at the -- at Windsor Castle.
With me, Alayna Treene from Windsor and David Sanger who joins me from New York.
I am going to start with you, Alayna.
I mean, the wording from the President was very, very generous -- a new era -- I mean, I could almost hear the British government rolling over in joy
as the President said a special relationship, the phrase does not do it justice. It is unbreakable. What do you make of it, Alayna Treene first.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I mean, as you said, Richard, it was very complimentary and exactly what i think the British had in mind
with all of the pomp and ceremony and pageantry of today and definitely the President hitting all the notes they want to hear, particularly before they
head into tomorrow, which is really where were going to see more of the politics and the policy be hashed out between the President and the British
Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, when they go to Chequers for, you know, their bilateral meeting and a press conference.
But I actually think some of the striking things I wanted to point out, Richard, from just what I was seeing with all of this separate from the
speech, because, again, as you mentioned, very complimentary, but some of the seating choices as well, I think very notable, especially when you look
at, you know, who the President chose to seat in such prime areas in that table.
You had, for example, of course, the President seated between the King and Princess Catherine of Wales and then the First Lady between the Queen and,
and the prince, Prince William.
But then you also saw people like Scott Bessent having a seat right next to the Queen. Marco Rubio, the Secretary of State seated on the other side of
the King. I think that just shows you how high their stature is of course, within the President's inner orbit. You saw the President's daughter,
Tiffany, there sitting nearby with Apple CEO, Tim Cook. So a lot of notable figures in that room as well.
I think, of course, the speeches were meant to really be the part of this grand finale that they have today. I am more interested in knowing what
some of these private conversations will be, though, once the cameras kind of pan away.
QUEST: Absolutely. Alayna, thank you very much. Alayna Treene with me.
David Sanger is with me. Does it make any difference? The British will have been delighted to hear the phrase, the special relationship does not do it
justice. And then the phrase the new era of our partnership, coming from His Majesty The King. What do you make of that?
DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, i think there is a new era coming, Richard, but it may not be the one that you
would immediately come to mind. I mean, there are two things the British have learned about President Trump. One is he loves this kind of pageantry.
You know, the roots go back to his mother, obviously, where his golf -- one of his golf courses is, but also just the way he loves this kind of British
celebration.
And he was talking before he left the United States about the fact that this would be at Windsor Castle and what all of that meant. On the other
hand, the British understand very much that they need to handle him a bit differently and that he wants to know what he is getting in return.
The special relationship prior to that time was more of an unquestioning alliance and that isn't the case anymore. They learned that in the tariffs,
they've learned that in the divisions over Ukraine, and so trying to soften the President up, make him think fondly of the British leadership, the way
he thought fondly of the Japanese leadership in his first term is certainly part of the agenda here.
QUEST: Yes, but you see, can they also play the transactional card at the same time? They know -- I mean, you know, the one thing about the British
Foreign Office, Foreign, Commonwealth Office is they're very savvy, and so they butter up, but they also know they've got to give something back and
they sort of know that they are in a better position to do -- sort of to be allied than say, for example, the E.U. where Donald Trump, despite his fond
words for Ursula von der Leyen, really has almost contempt.
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SANGER: That's absolutely right, and of course, he cheered on Brexit, right?
QUEST: Right.
And the way the President wants to conduct his foreign policy is bilaterally. It is not with groups of countries, certainly not groups like
the E.U. which he suggested more than once was designed to do something unpleasant to the United States.
So yes, I think the British do understand their opportunity here to break out, away from the way the President thinks about the rest of Europe. At
the same time, they've got a very fundamental difference about how much support to give to Zelenskyy and a very fundamental difference about the
kind of threat posed by Russia today, and that's going to be really interesting tomorrow when the President visits with Starmer.
QUEST: You see the fascinating last thought, David, the fascinating thing is that from Keir Starmer's point of view, I sort of feel sorry for him in
a sense because he is doing what he has to do because he has got to keep the President on side.
The British, this visit is not popular generally amongst people if polls are believed and it is balancing that. I suppose, it is very easy for us to
sort of say that, but Keir Starmer has to balance it.
SANGER: He does indeed, and look, the President's popularity rating in Britain is pretty low and Prime Minister Starmer isn't a whole lot better.
But they have to -- he has to show, the Prime Minister has to show that combined, he can get along with the Americans, right?
The number one thing for a British Prime Minister is show that you can deal with Britain's number one ally, and that is a very tall task when it comes
to dealing with Donald Trump.
QUEST: David, I am so grateful. Thank you. Just the man we needed to hear from tonight. Thank you very much.
SANGER Thank you.
QUEST: As David was talking about and as we heard and we saw in the pictures, also in attendance tonight, some of the world's most powerful
CEOs, because several trade deals or agreements or MoUs were signed around this idea of a digital future, a new future.
You had Apple's Tim Cook and NVIDIA's Jensen Huang, and in fact, Jensen Huang's wife, was part of the Royal procession as they walked in.
OpenAI's Sam Altman, Jane Frasier from Citi and Rupert Murdoch. Now that one was interesting.
Anna Cooban is with me. Why do we think, bearing in mind guest lists tend to be agreed, why do we think Rupert Murdoch was there?
ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS REPORTER: Well, I mean, Richard, he is an extremely powerful man and this occasion is nothing but not an
opportunity for these business leaders, of which Murdoch is obviously one of them to really talk shop. So, I mean, you're correct in saying it is a
pretty auspicious invite. We know that Murdoch is currently being sued by Trump for the paper he owns, "The Wall Street Journal" published a report,
which bore -- a letter that bears Trump's name to Jeffrey Epstein.
And so there is obviously some contention between them throughout the dinner tonight, but this is really a who's who of the business world and
this comes off the back of many, as you said, tech announcements. We've seen NVIDIA as well in the past couple of days announced billions of
dollars' worth of investment in the U.K.
QUEST: Are those deals -- let me -- are those deals real? I was listening to this morning to the radio. I mean, you've got Microsoft saying $22
billion. You've got NVIDIA, whatever. However many billion -- (a) Is this money we've seen before? (b) will these deals ever come to fruition?
COOBAN: Well, I was with NVIDIA's CEO Jensen Huang this morning and he was very obviously positive and optimistic about the reality of this. He is
committing to deploying 120,000 of his most advanced chips across the U.K. by the end of next year, but that will also be, you know, to your point,
selling those chips to U.K. companies.
So this is an investment, but it is also NVIDIA selling its wares to U.K. companies.
QUEST: Fascinating. I am grateful to see you tonight. Thank you very much indeed.
As we continue the other big story, oh --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENSEN HUANG, CEO, NVIDIA: I'm beside myself. Looking forward to it and I've got a brand new outfit just for today.
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COOBAN: So you said earlier that the U.K. is too humble. Can you sort of expand on that? What do you mean by that?
HUANG: Well, that's just your nature. You know, I think you're sitting on, as I mentioned you're sitting on a gold mine. You're sitting on a gold mine
and this is a Goldilocks moment. You're sitting on a gold mine because you have some of the world's finest researchers.
Geoff Hinton is British. Dennis is British, you know, I mean, there are so many and the Deep Mind Lab here is incredible. Wave is a great company.
Isomorphic is an incredible lab. The universities are just rich with amazing talent and so the research is here. The universities are vibrant.
The startup ecosystem is fantastic. It is the third largest place where venture capitalists want to invest in. And so I think the welcoming
environment of the U.K. for startup companies, that welcoming environment to nurture A.I. companies, I think this is the Goldilocks circumstance
you're looking for.
I think what's missing is just the infrastructure. You can't have it -- you can't have internet companies without internet. And so you can't have A.I.
companies without A.I. infrastructure and so we are here to build the fundamental A.I. infrastructure and these supercomputers are the most
advanced computers the world has ever made and we are going to put, you know, a supercomputer here about a hundred times larger than the one -- the
largest supercomputer here in the U.K. today and it will be the largest in Europe. It is going to be gigantic.
COOBAN: And finally, are we in an A.I. bubble?
HUANG: We are in the first growth phase of A.I. You know, we are still advancing the technology. We are discovering new uses of it all the time,
the capability is advancing all the time. The reason why it is so vibrant is because intelligence is fundamentally useful in every single industry.
There are no industries that we know that intelligence is not, at the core, the most essential thing. And so whether you're in the life sciences or
healthcare or transportation logistics or, you know, autonomous driving, robotics, manufacturing, every single financial services, Revolute, what an
amazing company.
And so all of these companies are fundamental at their core, artificial intelligence companies, machine learning companies. And so I think the
journey of diffusing artificial intelligence into all of these industries and all these fields of science is just really just beginning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The thing I found fascinating is that, as he says, you tried to lead him down the -- properly lead him down the road of a bubble, and he
responds with, were at the first wave and I think that is classic in a sense that what the rest of us see is a bubble, somebody as far sighted as
him just says, nah, maybe, maybe not, but it is only because it is the first wave.
COOBAN: Yes, and he made the analogy this morning when I was speaking to him, saying that would you say that the restaurant business is a bubble
just because not all restaurants succeed? And it is certainly the case that NVIDIA is far out in front in the packet is, a full trillion dollar, you
know, has a full trillion dollar market cap. It is most valuable company in the world. So of course, he is best placed to say that.
But the company has been facing challenges in a very important market, namely China. He said that the business there over the past few years has
been, "a rollercoaster."
QUEST: I am grateful for you. Thank you, staying late tonight. Anna Cooban.
And now, as we continue. So the Fed lowered interest rates by a quarter percentage point. The former Cleveland Fed President, there she is, hello,
ma'am. We will be with you in just after the break, but we will really want to know about that dissenter who wants a half a percentage point cut and it
is on his first meeting, too, we will have her next.
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS in a moment.
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QUEST: Jerome Powell said that today's move by the Fed to cut rates by a quarter percentage point is a risk management. It was the central bank's
first rate cut since December. All but one of the voting members were in favor of the decision, and the dissenter is the president's former economic
adviser, Stephen Miran. He voted for a larger 50 basis point cut, half a percentage point.
It was his first meeting. He was only confirmed and sworn in on Monday after the Senate rushed it through. The chair, Jerome Powell, was asked
what the rest of the committee thought of this 50 basis point cut.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, CHAIR, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE There wasn't widespread support at all for a 50 basis point cut today. You know, I think we've done --
we've done very large rate hikes and very large rate cuts in the last five years. And you tend to do those at a time when you feel that policy is out
of place and needs to move quickly to a new place.
That's not at all what I feel certainly now. I feel like our policy has been doing the right thing so far this year.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Well, that put the new man in his place. The Fed's dot plot shows a wide range of expectations for interest rates by the end of this year. If
you look back at June, this is the picture that we had in June, where most predicted that if you take a look over here, most predicted, you're talking
around that sort of level. But now fast forward that implies just a couple of quarter point cuts.
Now move forward to September and you see this. You see a general lowering of expectations right across the board for a few more by next year. And
then you see this and this, and they are the outliers. This is the -- this is the rate cut. We don't know. But I'm a betting man. And I think that
that is the work of this man, Stephen Miran. He is the new kid on the block. This was his first meeting. The rest of them, they all went for a
quarter point except for Mr. Miran.
So joining me now to put this into context is Loretta Mester, the former president of the Cleveland Fed, adjunct professor of finance at Wharton
School, University of Pennsylvania.
And would you have gone a quarter or a half? What do you think?
LORETTA MESTER, FORMER PRESIDENT, FEDERAL RESERVE BANK OF CLEVELAND: I would have supported the quarter. I think there's a case for that. And I
would put it in the same way that Jerome Powell did, which is like there's downside risk to the labor market. The labor market is not falling off a
cliff, but certainly job growth is slowed and the unemployment rate ticked up. So you can, you know, take away some of the restrictiveness in policy
by 25 basis points. You still want your policy to be restrictive, though, because inflation is above the goal.
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It's been above the goal for more than four years. And there's reason to believe that inflation will move up as more firms pass through some of
those higher cost tariffs.
QUEST: Right.
MESTER: So it's a good balancing between the two goals, which is what the Fed is always trying to do is position policy to achieve over time both
parts of a mandate.
QUEST: What was interesting, listening to Chair Powell was he was very honest when he says, look, this is a very unusual circumstance where both -
- where both policy sides of the mandate are in quasi-conflict with each other, at least in contention, and you do which is the most important at
the moment. And that would appear to be on the employment side. He was very forthright about this challenge.
MESTER: It is a challenge because, you know, you've had a shock that sort of -- is going to dampen growth. You know, as prices go up, growth will
probably get damaged some more. There's uncertainty about even the level of tariffs. So firms have been having to deal with that uncertainty. There's
geopolitical uncertainty as well. So it's a very uncertain environment. But the effects of those policies, immigration policy work on opposite sides of
the mandate and push them in opposite directions. So that's a hard balancing act they have to pull off.
QUEST: The more difficult issue in the wider sense now is whether or not party politics has now been introduced into the FOMC, into the Fed in a
different way ever before. And it is about Mr. Miran, whatever his qualifications and -- may be. The reality is he gets railroaded through and
on his first meeting he votes for a 50 basis point cut, which is almost, you know, what the president has been calling for.
Even Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman, who wanted a cut, didn't go with that. So we can -- does this call into question the independence of
the Fed?
MESTER: Well, I don't think today's vote and the dissent do. I mean, this is an economic environment where you should be expecting different
policymakers to have different views about what appropriate policy is at the meeting and then going forward after this meeting. And so that, you
know, if everyone agreed and it was so tightly knit, I think that would be a bigger problem than if they show their different views. And that's what
we saw today.
I do think this whole environment that the Fed has been operating on with these, you know, consistent attacks on the Federal Reserve are very
damaging to the process of monetary policy making. I am very confident of the people I know on the FOMC. So everyone but Miran, that they went into
the room and only cared about doing appropriate policy making. But the fact that there's even a question about that is -- it's a shame because it
really complicates the making of monetary policy.
And we've seen that it could change over time. We should not take the independence of a central bank for granted. We should make sure that we
preserve it because it ends up being better for the public. You get better outcomes. You get more stable inflation, and you don't have the cost in
terms of having to give up output. So again, it's worth preserving. And I don't think anyone should be complacent about it.
QUEST: I'm grateful as always, ma'am. Thank you so much. Putting it into context and letting --
MESTER: Thanks.
QUEST: Exactly. Thank you.
Now let us return to events in Windsor. Pomp and splendor on full display. King Charles and Queen Camilla, they took the president and the first lady
for a carriage ride. An abridged one. It was through Windsor Great Park, not through Windsor Town Center. It was followed by "Beating Retreat" to
this tune of 200 military musicians. This is the first time -- it's normally played in certain circumstances in various events, but it's the
first time "Beating Retreat" has ever been played for a state visit, and it symbolizes the end of the day when the gates are closed and the flags are
lowered.
Britain's Royal Air Force acrobatic team, the Red Arrows, were there today. Missing because of poor weather were, as you can see, the way the wind is
blowing it across, were the two F-35s from the U.S. Air Force that were meant to take part. But the F-35s had to be dropped from that. All of the
fanfare built up to the state dinner that is taking place now.
So Robin Niblett is the distinguished fellow at the Chatham House.
Sir Robin, good to see. You saw -- you'll have heard, you'd have seen everybody is doing what they needed to do. Do you think this will do the
trick?
[16:40:00]
Will this solidify the U.K.'s position? After all, the Foreign Office must have been absolutely delighted with this idea of special doesn't even begin
to define the relationship.
ROBIN NIBLETT, DISTINGUISHED FELLOW, CHATHAM HOUSE: Yes. Well, look, I think it solidifies Britain as being in a special place in the Trumpian
firmament. But that's partly in a way, because we're sort of small enough to be, small enough and yet significant enough. I think part of the Trump
approach is always to be looking for leverage. You've just had the grand show in Beijing of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War,
with Xi, President Xi of China next to Russia's Vladimir Putin, next to Kim Jong-un. Team Xi is looking large and strong.
This is an opportunity for America to remind there's a Team Trump. And the Brits lay on a great backdrop for that kind of a show.
QUEST: Right.
NIBLETT: I thought the language that was used by President Trump in his speech was quite remarkable. Like two verses in the same poem. I was
writing this down here, you know, two notes in the same song. I mean, obviously he didn't make that stuff up himself, but it got through, you
know, into his speech. And I think this was pretty remarkable stuff.
QUEST: So --
NIBLETT: But the U.K. is a useful ally. Yes.
QUEST: Right. But then we also have all this business that was done. Interestingly, on the one hand, you had Eli Lilly saying that life sciences
in Britain is not good because of the NHS drug programs and costs. Then you have the A.I. of Nvidia and Microsoft spending a fortune. The U.K. tonight
is looking better or worse vis a vis the United States, in your view?
NIBLETT: Better. I mean, I think the fact that U.K. has been singled out for such significant ex-U.S. investment by its largest technology companies
is a statement. It's a statement that outside the U.S., the U.K. has an environment that is sufficiently open, talented, with a deep enough bench
as Jensen Huang and others have mentioned that it's worth putting this money in.
QUEST: All right.
NIBLETT: Now, this is a fraction of what these companies are putting into the U.S., but it is nonetheless significant for us and says that the
regulatory environment is good enough for them to want to pursue it better than they might find in the E.U.
QUEST: Which is a subject that you and I need to talk about, Sir Robin, on another occasion. I'm grateful to you tonight for joining us. Thank you.
That's our program for tonight. What a busy week it's turning into. I'm almost exhausted, and it's only Wednesday. Anyway, we'll have a bit more
QUEST MEANS BUSINESS tomorrow, but coming up next for you, "MARKETPLACE ASIA." This is CNN.
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