Biden heads to UK for queen’s funeral, will meet Liz Truss

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden headed to the United Kingdom on Saturday to pay his respects to Queen Elizabeth II at a time of transition in US-UK relations, as each a brand new royal and a brand new prime minister are settling in.

The hawkish strategy of Prime Minister Liz Truss to Russia and China places her on the identical web page as Biden. But the rise of Truss, 47, who as soon as referred to as the US-UK relationship “special but not exclusive,” might mark a decidedly new chapter within the trans-Atlantic partnership on commerce and extra.

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Of excessive concern for Biden officers within the early going of Truss’s premiership is her backing of laws that might shred elements of the post-Brexit buying and selling preparations in Northern Ireland. Analysts say the transfer might trigger deep pressure between the UK and the European Union, and undermine peace in Northern Ireland. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned the transfer “would not create a conducive environment” for crafting a long-awaited U.S.-UK commerce deal coveted by Truss and her Conservative Party.

“She’s signaled that she’s willing to go to the mattresses on this and that’s going to cause a rift not just between the UK and EU, but the UK and the U.S.,” mentioned Max Bergmann, director of the Europe program on the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington and a former senior State Department official within the Obama administration. “It’s one that’s going to keep the White House up at night.”

Biden and Truss had been set to meet Sunday, however the prime minister’s workplace mentioned Saturday they might skip the weekend good day, opting as an alternative for a gathering on the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, although Truss nonetheless deliberate to collect with different world leaders converging on London for the royal funeral. The White House confirmed the U.N. assembly simply because the president boarded Air Force One.

The two shut allies now discover themselves in a interval of political uncertainty on each side of the Atlantic. Not not like his fellow septuagenarian Biden, King Charles III faces questions from the general public about whether or not his age will restrict his potential to faithfully perform the duties of the monarch.

Charles, 73, and Biden, 79, mentioned international cooperation on the local weather disaster final 12 months whereas each attended a summit in Glasgow, Scotland. They additionally met at Buckingham Palace in June 2021 at a reception the queen hosted earlier than a world leaders’ summit in Cornwall.

Truss finds herself, as Biden does, going through questions on whether or not she has what it takes to elevate a rustic battered by cussed inflation borne out of the coronavirus pandemic and exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine unleashing chaos on the worldwide power market.

All the whereas, Britain — and the remainder of Europe — is rigorously watching to see what the upcoming U.S. midterm elections will deliver for the Democratic American president after he vowed upon taking workplace that “America is back” to being a full companion within the worldwide neighborhood after 4 years of Republican Donald Trump pushing his “America First” worldview.

“It certainly is a time of change and transformation in the UK,” mentioned Barbara A. Perry, presidential research director on the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. She added, “We don’t know what will happen in our midterms. We don’t know what will happen in 2024.”

Truss, a former accountant who was first elected to Parliament in 2010, hasn’t had a lot interplay with Biden. The U.S. president referred to as her earlier this month to congratulate her. Truss, as international secretary, accompanied her predecessor, Boris Johnson, on a White House visit last year.

It’s been greater than 75 years since Winston Churchill declared there was a “special relationship” between the 2 nations, a notion that leaders on each side have repeatedly affirmed. Still, there have been bumps alongside the best way.

Tony Blair was derisively branded by the British tabloids as George W. Bush’s “poodle” for backing the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq. David Cameron and Barack Obama had a “bromance,” but Obama also had his frustrations with the Brits over defense spending and the UK’s handling of Libya following the 2011 ouster of Muammar Gaddafi.

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan forged a close alliance within the midst of the Cold War, with the prime minister as soon as telling college students that the Republican president’s “really good sense of humor” helped their relationship. But there have been difficulties too, equivalent to when Thatcher and members of her Cabinet bristled on the Reagan administration’s preliminary neutrality within the Falklands War.

The White House wasn’t anticipating Truss’s announcement in May, when she was international secretary, that the federal government would transfer ahead with laws that might rewrite elements of the Northern Ireland Protocol. The settlement was a part of the UK’s 2020 Brexit withdrawal from the EU that was designed to keep away from a tough north-south border with Ireland which may upset Northern Ireland’s fragile peace.

Now, within the first weeks of Truss’s premiership, Biden administration officers are rigorously taking the measure of the brand new British chief. Analysts say there may be some trepidation within the administration that undercutting the Northern Ireland protoco l might plunge Europe into commerce turmoil at a second when Biden is working mightily to maintain the West unified in confronting Russia over its aggression towards Ukraine.

“Brexit could once again become the issue — the issue that can make it difficult for all of Europe to work together at a time when it is critical for Europe to work together,” Bergmann said. “If you’re the Biden administration, this is not the time for the two of your closest partners getting into fights.”

To make certain, there have been areas of friction between Biden and Johnson, who had a heat rapport with former President Donald Trump.

Biden staunchly opposed Brexit as a candidate and had expressed nice concern over the way forward for Northern Ireland. Biden as soon as even derided Johnson as a “physical and emotional clone” of Trump.

Johnson labored arduous to overcome that impression, stressing his widespread floor with Biden on local weather change, help for worldwide establishments and most notably by making sure Britain was an early and beneficiant member of the U.S.-led alliance offering financial and navy help to Ukraine within the aftermath of the Russian invasion.

The former prime minister additionally unsuccessfully pressed Biden beginning days into his administration to start negotiations on a brand new U.S.-UK commerce deal simply because the U.Okay. regained management over its nationwide commerce coverage weeks earlier than Biden took workplace and following the top of a post-Brexit transition interval.

But Biden largely stored concentrate on his home to-do checklist within the early going of his presidency—passing trillions in spending on coronavirus aid, infrastructure, and extra—and put negotiations on commerce offers on the again burner.

Elliot Abrams, chairman of the conservative international coverage group Vandenberg Coalition, mentioned that Truss wants Biden to make a brand new U.S.-UK commerce deal a precedence. Queen Elizabeth’s funeral will not be the setting for robust bilateral conversations, but it surely nonetheless marks a second for the 2 leaders’ to start taking inventory of one another.

Truss, who succeeded Johnson after he was pressured to resign within the face of a string of scandals, has lagged within the opinion polls. She additionally gained her election with a smaller margin than her latest predecessors and is wanting for an early win.

“I think if I were (Truss), I want recognition of the leading role Britain’s played, far more than any other country outside the United States in supporting Ukraine,” mentioned Abrams, who served in senior nationwide safety and international coverage roles within the Trump, George W. Bush and Reagan administrations. “And I think I’d want some positive economic message to give the British people, which could be that the free trade agreement negotiations are starting.”