Amid worsening China ties, can Britain’s ‘special relationship’ with the US flourish?

As Joe Biden visits UK, he and Boris Johnson will discuss global challenges, including China, Russia and bilateral issues like trade and pandemic travel limits
A trade deal would be a significant victory for Johnson’s ‘Global Britain’ agenda at a time when Britain’s relationship with China has eroded

Andrew Hammond

Published: 1:30am, 10 Jun 2021

Why you can trust SCMP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Thursday become only the third foreign leader to meet face-to-face with Joe Biden since the latter assumed the US presidency.

On a pivotal first foreign trip with significant risk and opportunity, Biden is not only meeting arch-rival Vladimir Putin and erstwhile ally Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but also friends from Europe, Canada and the Asia-Pacific at the G7, Nato and EU summits. However, the first order of business is meeting Johnson, and Queen Elizabeth on Sunday, to renew what Biden called the “special relationship”.

While Biden is proud of his Irish ancestry, he has long been a defender of British interests. He was, for instance, a staunch supporter of London over the Falklands War.

Although Johnson does not like the term “special relationship”, given his view that it implies British neediness and subservience, he must be pleased that Biden has, rhetorically at least, put significant emphasis on bilateral ties and that Britain is his first foreign destination.

Johnson will also be relieved that early personal tensions (Biden once called Johnson a “physical and emotional clone” of Donald Trump) appear to have dissipated.

The two leaders will discuss global challenges, including China and Russia, as well as bilateral issues like a trade deal and pandemic restrictions on travel.

On the latter issue, major American and British airlines have called upon Biden and Johnson to reopen mass transatlantic travel. These firms are pushing for a quarantine-free travel corridor now that both nations are well advanced in their coronavirus vaccination programmes.

Johnson will push hard for a trade deal, which could be a significant victory for his “Global Britain” agenda at a time when Britain’s relationship with China has eroded.

While Biden is rhetorically less committed to a trade deal than Trump was, there are areas ripe for agreement, including lowering or eliminating tariffs on goods. However, there are potential problems too: for example, harmonising financial regulations between the two countries will not necessarily be straightforward, given the international dominance of Wall Street and the City of London.

Why Biden’s Quad summit is unlikely to find consensus on containing China

Moreover, securing agreement on other sectors, including agriculture, where there are divergent views and strong interest groups, will not be easy. Also, Biden has long been opposed to Brexit, not least given his concerns about the implications for the peace process in Northern Ireland.

It is therefore plausible that the US administration may be asked by Brussels to mediate in the implementation of the post-Brexit protocol which keeps Northern Ireland in both Britain’s customs territory and the European Union’s single market.

Johnson is looking for Biden to continue to largely put aside personal and partisan differences and forge a constructive partnership, building on the traditional ties between the two nations founded on demographics, religion, culture, law, politics and economics.

This will be supplemented by the security cooperation which has long been at the core of the relationship, given the very close partnership between the two nations in areas like intelligence.

Amid the myriad uncertainties in the special relationship, Johnson is likely to seek to play the role of a trusted, albeit candid, friend to Biden in a bid to get close to him and make the relationship work as smoothly as possible. This may provide some protection for bilateral relations if there is a lack of strong personal chemistry.

However, while seeking the potential upside in the relationship, Johnson would be wise not to overestimate Britain’s ability to shape US power.

He should also not be blind to the prospect that Biden may – ultimately – care less for core British interests than in the past if he increasingly looks to Berlin and Paris for post-Brexit leadership, given that his is a much more pro-EU outlook than Trump’s.

Andrew Hammond is an associate at LSE IDEAS at the London School of Economics