A man holds an American flag depicting President-elect Trump in London’s Parliament Square in 2020.
Jeff J. Mitchell | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The UK cherishes its so-called “special relationship” with the United States and is proud of its longstanding shared values and cultural, diplomatic, linguistic and commercial ties with the United States.
London believes these long-standing ties and geopolitical interests make its relationship with the United States very special.
However, whether this sense of exceptionalism and unique intimacy is appreciated or strongly felt across the Atlantic has been a bone of contention in London, and as Donald Trump returns to the White House, tensions between the US and UK ties may be further tested.
In the run-up to the vote, Prime Minister Keir Starmer had sought to strengthen ties with Trump, checking on the Republican leader following an assassination attempt and traveling to New York with Foreign Secretary David Lamy Had dinner with him at Trump Tower in September.
Starmer posted on X congratulating the president-elect on his decisive victory and saying he looked forward to building a partnership with Trump
He commented: “As the closest allies, we stand side by side to defend our shared values of freedom, democracy and progress.” He added, “From growth and security to innovation and technology, I know that the special relationship between the UK and the US will be strong on both sides of the Atlantic in the coming years.” will continue to prosper.
Still, Starmer may have some groveling attitudes towards the new Trump administration.
Tensions rose last month when the Trump campaign accused Labor of “blatant foreign interference” after Labor activists traveled to the United States to help Harris campaign. Starmer and the party deny the accusations.
US President Joe Biden meets with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House in Washington on September 13, 2024.
Kevin Lamarque | Reuters
There is no doubt that the two leaders have different personalities – the brash and unpredictable nature of Trump, the businessman-turned-politician, and the more cautious nature of the former human rights lawyer who has taken on big business in high-profile courts. The style is very different.
Addressing British lawmakers on Wednesday, Starmer reacted to Trump’s victory and reiterated his commitment to a good relationship with the United States, saying: “There is a strong relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, one that has been forged under difficult circumstances. A strong special relationship is absolutely crucial.
But Kemi Badenoch, the new leader of the British opposition Conservative Party, which is more ideologically aligned with Fianna Fáil, goaded Starmer over the current Labor foreign minister’s past criticism of Trump. Tamer called Trump “the new misogynist society” in 2018. in magazine article. Lamy later said He will work with Trump and will try to persuade notoriously skeptical Republicans to remain in the military alliance.
Britain can keep a low profile
Economists say the UK should not expect any special treatment when the new Trump administration takes effect, but note that the UK is unlikely to be a major target of punitive policies such as import tariffs that could be imposed on the EU and China , because Trump wants to promote American growth and competitiveness.
Trump has threatened to restart the trade war that began during his first term and said on the campaign trail that he would Raising tariffs on Chinese goods by 60-100% and imposing blanket tariffs of 10% (or possibly 20%) on all U.S. imports opens a new front in U.S. trade tensions with its two largest trading partners, the European Union and China. . The UK, now out of the EU, may find its post-Brexit position advantageous.
“The UK is probably, frankly, negligibly small,” Kallum Pickering, chief economist at Peel Hunt, told CNBC after Trump’s election win.
“We are no longer part of the EU. China and the EU are the two big ones[that will be Trump’s targets]. We are not going to get into any issues around NATO commitments because we live up to our own commitments. And for Europe, as you can imagine, Trump could say, ‘We’re going to threaten you with a trade war, but if you increase military spending and meet your NATO commitments, we won’t impose tariffs,'” Pickering said, noting that “Trump Like to trade away with everything.
While “Starmer may have offended Trump at some point, or David Lamy may have offended the United States,” Pickering noted, “compared to Trump’s problems with Europe, NATO or China containment, These are relatively minor issues.
Not so special anymore
Describing this “special relationship” as one of the US’s amenities, Pickering said the UK could still maneuver itself to help the incoming Trump administration.
“The key for the UK is, now that it has left the EU, can it reassert itself as the mid-Atlantic intermediary between the US and Europe? That has always been the UK’s strength – being an English-speaking common law country, US partners within the EU.
Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg, said that despite the rhetoric, this “special relationship” is no longer special.
“In addition to close cooperation in intelligence collection and military matters, recent US administrations have treated the UK as a normal middle-sized European country,” Schmieding told CNBC on Wednesday.
“To put it mildly, Trump and Starmer are clearly not fans of each other, which will not help future US-UK negotiations. But it is not a decisive factor, mainly because the United States may not be inclined to grant any special treatment.” Any European treatment by the state,” he said.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom greets US President Donald Trump as he arrives for a welcome ceremony at Buckingham Palace in London, England, on June 3, 2019.
Victoria Jones | Reuters
Schmieding said Britain would be better off coordinating its response to Trump with its European neighbors, especially if Trump cuts U.S. military aid to Ukraine as expected, which means Europe will be left with Ukraine’s strongest ally The company is in trouble due to funding gap.
Although the situation has improved since Trump’s last administration (2017-2021), The president-elect is likely to continue to press European NATO members to increase defense spending, a longstanding dilemma for Trump.
NATO members committed in 2014 Spend 2% of gross domestic product on national defense But laggards remain, including Germany, France, Italy, Türkiye, Spain and Canada. Even the Netherlands, whose former leader Mark Rutte is now NATO secretary-general, has failed to meet its spending commitments.
After being elected in July, Starmer made a “firm commitment” to increase British defense spending to 2.5% of GDP, but refused to give a timetable for the increase. Despite this, the UK is still favored by Trump in terms of defense spending, and its defense spending will account for 2.3% of GDP in 2023. NATO data shows. The United States spent 3.2%, becoming the second largest spender after Poland (3.9%).
Trump upset NATO members in February when he said he would not provide military protection to any member that failed to meet its financial obligations to NATO and would even “encourage” adversaries to “do whatever they want” against the country.
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