At Prime Minister’s Questions in the House of Commons today, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulated President Joe Biden on his inauguration.
“As I said when I spoke with him on his election as President, I look forward to working with him and with his new administration, strengthening the partnership between our countries and working on our shared priorities from tackling climate change to building back better from the pandemic and strengthening our transatlantic security.”
The Prime Minister has spoken of working “hand in hand” with the Biden administration, but in this new phase of the “Special Relationship” getting the 46th President of the United States on side will take some doing. Biden and his party have little love for Brexit Britain or Boris Johnson, who Biden called a “Trump clone”
Among the Prime Minister’s top priorities will be securing a trade deal with the US. But in December, Biden ruled out any such move, in an interview with the New York Times last month.
“I’m not going to enter any new trade agreement with anybody until we have made major investments here at home and in our workers and in education,” he said, adding, “I want to make sure we’re going to fight like hell by investing in America first.”
While Britain may have secured a $900 billion trade deal with the EU, the Prime Minister will need to tread carefully to secure a deal with Biden, lest Britain is sent to the “back of the queue” as Obama threatened in 2016.
