US President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at the White House on June 8, 2023. SUSAN WALSH / AP
It’s not the free trade deal London dreamed of, but British Prime Minister and US President Joe Biden announced a new economic partnership on Thursday (June 8) and celebrated a newfound friendship.
An “Atlantic Declaration” presented to the White House by the two heads of state and government provides, among other things, for increased cooperation in the defense industry, civil nuclear energy and the supply of metals essential for the energy transition.
On that last point, the White House’s Rishi Sunak got British industrialists to benefit in part from the Inflation Reduction Act, Joe Biden’s gargantuan subsidy scheme that uncomfortably promotes Made in America.
In the defense sector, the American President has promised to open up the American market to British industrialists in order to promote the development of advanced weapons such as hypersonic missiles. Tailored to deal with China, the agreement between the two countries also includes artificial intelligence, energy security and supply chain reliability.
Also read: Article reserved for our subscribers Why is the UK at the forefront of aid to Ukraine?
” New challenges “
“We face new challenges to international stability: authoritarian states like Russia and China, disruptive technologies, non-state actors and transnational issues like climate change,” the statement said.
“We have no closer allies” than the British, Joe Biden said in the Oval Office, giving a thumbs-up that what has traditionally been described as “special” relations between the two countries have “always been very good”. It’s definitely a lot smoother than hearing the two men exchange pleasantries in the White House than it was with Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
“We will put our values at the center of what we do for the British and the Americans,” promised Rishi Sunak at the beginning of the meeting with the American President. London dreamed of signing a post-Brexit trade deal with Washington but had to abandon it in the face of a Biden government that has turned away from free trade dogma and now closely links economic interests with strategic considerations.
In a slightly lighter tone, Rishi Sunak thanked Joe Biden for hosting him at Blair House, a residence near the White House, and vowed to behave better than his famous predecessor, Winston Churchill, who was a guest in the House of Representatives in 1941 whose eccentricities, according to historians, greatly angered First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.
Succession at the head of NATO
Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak have seen each other several times on the sidelines of international summits or at the start of major military cooperation with Australia. The United States has repeatedly commended Britain’s commitment to supporting Ukraine.
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The issue appears to remain of major concern following the partial destruction of a major dam in Ukraine and at a time when speculation about the counter-offensive promised by Kiev is gaining momentum. According to several British media, the Prime Minister wants to use their good understanding to persuade Joe Biden to run for his Defense Minister Ben Wallace for the post of Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The US President is in full diplomatic negotiations ahead of the Alliance’s annual summit, to be held next month in Vilnius, Lithuania, at which Westerners aim to send a strong message to Ukraine. On Monday he will receive the current secretary-general, Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg, whose mandate ends in October and for whom Washington has nothing but praise. Joe Biden also received Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen last Monday, whose name is also mentioned among Jens Stoltenberg’s possible successors. NATO has never been run by men alone.