It’s not the free trade deal London dreamed of, but Britain’s prime minister and US president Joe Biden announced a new economic partnership on Thursday and celebrated a newfound friendship. An “Atlantic declaration” presented to the White House by the two leaders provides, among other things, for enhanced cooperation in the defense industry, in civil nuclear energy and in the supply of metals essential for the energy transition. On this last point, Rishi Sunak obtained from the White House that British industrialists benefit in part from Joe Biden’s gigantic subsidy plan, the “Inflation Reduction Act”, which unashamedly promotes “made in America”.
In terms of defence, the American president has promised to open access to the American market to British industrialists in order to boost the development of sophisticated weapons such as hypersonic missiles. The agreement between the two countries, tailored to deal with China, also covers artificial intelligence, energy security, and the reliability of supply chains. “We face new challenges aimed at international stability: authoritarian states such as Russia and China, disturbing technologies, non-state actors and transnational issues such as climate change,” the statement read. . “We have no closer allies” than the British, Joe Biden said from the Oval Office, saying with a thumbs up that the relationship traditionally described as “special” between the two countries was “always very good”.
It is in any case much more fluid than in the days of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, to hear the exchanges of courtesies of the two men at the White House. “We are going to put our values at the center of our action for the British and the Americans,” said Rishi Sunak, starting the discussion with the American president. London dreamed of signing a trade agreement with Washington after Brexit, but had to give it up in the face of a Biden administration which has turned its back on the dogma of free trade, and which now closely links economic interests to strategic considerations. On a lighter note, Rishi Sunak thanked Joe Biden for hosting him at Blair House, a residence close to the White House.
And he promised with a smile to behave better than his illustrious predecessor Winston Churchill, who had been welcomed into the White House in 1941, and whose eccentricities had, according to historians, greatly upset First Lady Eleonor Roosevelt. Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak have already seen each other several times, on the sidelines of international summits or to launch a major military collaboration with Australia. The United States has repeatedly touted British commitment to supporting Ukraine. The subject obviously remains major, shortly after the partial destruction of a major dam in Ukraine, and at a time when speculation on the counter-offensive promised by kyiv is mounting.
According to several British media, the British Prime Minister wants to take advantage of the new found good understanding to push Joe Biden for the candidacy of his Minister of Defense Ben Wallace at the head of NATO. The American president is in full diplomatic negotiations before the annual summit of the Western defense alliance, which will be held next month in Vilnius (Lithuania), during which Westerners will want to send a strong message on Ukraine. He will receive on Monday the current secretary general, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, whose mandate ends in October and for whom Washington has nothing but praise. Joe Biden had also received last Monday the Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen, whose name is circulating to possibly become the first woman to lead NATO.
