Many will see Britain’s historic trade deal with the US as further proof of the enduring special relationship the two countries enjoy. Talks first started almost exactly five years ago on May 5, 2020, during Trump’s first term in the White House, and in December that year, the countries signed an agreement on various goods continuing trading terms from previous US-European Union agreements. But the handbrake was pulled when Biden replaced Trump and took office in 2021.
He was vice president in the Barack Obama administration when the former president famously said during a visit here at the invitation of former Prime Minister David Cameron on the eve of the historic 2016 EU referendum that Britain would join the “back of the queue” if it voted to leave the EU, adding “part of being friends is being honest”.
Biden continued his former boss’s attitude, and no breakthrough was made for the duration of his term in office. This prompted former Democratic Unionist party leader Arlene Foster to say he “hates the UK,” with many suspecting, for years, that the now 82-year-old was unashamedly pro-republican and pro-nationalist in relation to Northern Ireland.
One of his first tasks was to rearrange the furniture in the Oval Office, removing a bust of Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s celebrated wartime leader.
During his first term as president in 2017, Trump had given pride of place to the Jacob Epstein statue, but Biden made a point of substituting it for a bust of union leader Cesar Chavez, who died in 1993 and whose nonviolent activism and support of working people saw him posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994.
In 2023, on a visit to Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Biden quipped, “I know it has made things more complicated,” specifically referring to Brexit.
The UK has nearly no trade imbalance with the US when it comes to goods, exporting £59.3bn and importing £57.2bn. As a result, it was spared higher “reciprocal” tariffs when Trump announced his “Liberation Day” duties, although it was still hit with the baseline 10% levy.
Last month, Vice President JD Vance gave a tantalising indication that a historic arrangement was in the offing, saying the UK has a “good chance” of securing a trade deal with America because of its shared values.
He said: “The President really loves the United Kingdom. He loved the Queen. He admires and loves the King. It is a very important relationship. And he’s a businessman and has a number of important business relationships in [Britain].
“But I think it’s much deeper than that. There’s a real cultural affinity. And, of course, fundamentally, America is an Anglo country.
“I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries.”
Mr Vance said the “reciprocal relationship” between the US and UK gave Britain a more advantageous position than other European countries when it comes to negotiating new trade arrangements, adding: “While we love the Germans, they are heavily dependent on exporting to the United States but are pretty tough on a lot of American businesses that would like to export into Germany.”
