My Take | Britain, the new vassal state of the United States
- Post-Brexit, the UK will have no support from the European Union as a middle power while China, once its best trading prospect, has become an adversary
Brexit was supposed to restore sovereignty to Britain and its former status as a global trading powerhouse. As it is, it will achieve neither goal, rather the opposite.
Cut loose from the European bloc, it is fast becoming no more than a vassal state of the United States. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s latest visit to London, where he was acting like a plenipotentiary, speaks volumes about the future of Britain on the world stage.
Countries were supposed to be lining up to seal trade deals with Britain. No such queue has materialised, while relations with its best trading prospect, China, have soured. Pompeo had previously made it clear to Westminster that it was either the US or China. Put that way, Britain never had a choice. His visit was a pat on the head of Prime Minister Boris Johnson for making the right “choice”.
During Pompeo’s visit, British officials admitted that a trade pact with the European Union was unlikely and future terms of trade would have to rely on those of the World Trade Organisation.
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Meanwhile, the wording of Pompeo’s praise for Britain’s recent actions against China gives the game away.
