The USA and UK, despite being former enemies, have for the last century been amongst the closest allies in the world, developing what has been called by many as the ‘special relationship’. This special relationship underpins the Information sharing, trade and political discussions the two countries share, as well as the military alliance between the two. However, despite this deep and critical alliance, the two’s relations in the modern era of politics has become strained, with Obama holding many criticisms over the ex-PM David Cameron and President Donald Trump often being outspoken on critical and nuanced issues affecting the UK. Have these criticisms and possible conflicting outlooks on current political issues damaged the special relationship, or is it just a bump in the road that has occurred many other times.
The most obvious and possibly most prevalent reason for many believing there is damage in the special relationship is due to the outspoken nature of Donald Trump. His definite, though seemingly undereducated comments on Brexit and the situation with the EU have riled up many anti-Brexiteers and have caused areas like Scotland and Northern Ireland to be highly against his authority. On the other hand, many in the UK see his acts in the USA as deplorable and highly contentious. While it does seem that Trump is at odds with the people of the UK, this is not the first time that one nation has been vocal about their dislike for the other during the special relationship. Obama often spoke critically of David Cameron, on issues such as a possible Brexit as well as the 2011 Libyan war and the British were quite critical of the war in Vietnam. Even further, surveys from the UK show that the populace still sees the US in a favorable light, and while the majority dislike Trump, they also seem to dislike all other politicians besides Obama.
The other part of the special relationship is the interactions between the governments of the nations. Currently, the two nations are split on critical issues around the world, with the UK disagreeing with the USA’s stances on Iran and Huawei. The UK sees the increasing tensions between the USA and Iran as dangerous to any possible peace in the area and as such, has taken a stance against the particularly harsh views the US holds against Iran. At the same time, the USA has denounced Huawei’s 5G technology as an incredible risk to US intelligence agencies and data, due to the companies affiliation with the Chinese government. As such, the leaked proposal from the UK stating their intention to implement the 5G technology from the Chinese company has put another strain on the special relationship. US intelligence agencies see the company as a threat to their work and should the UK begin using their technology, it has possible implications for the intelligence sharing and alliance the two countries have. But, this is not the first time that the two nations have clashed on international matters. The UK, as previously mentioned rebuffed attempts to join the Vietnam war by the US, with the US threatening to revoke loans to the UK during the Suez Crisis and President Reagan attempting to stop the UK from defending the Falklands.
Despite how it may seem based on leaders social media, this type of discomfort between the two allies is not unknown nor is it unusual. The two nation’s special relationship has endured far more than what is currently going on and will likely to continue to endure, as the UK seeks increased co-operation with the world outside of the EU. However, should Labour come into power in the UK, there is chance for further trouble as President Trump has noticeably worse relations with Labour officials. In the end, only time will tell, but as it stands, the special relationship exists as it has for the last century.
If you have enjoyed our content and believe it is of high quality, please consider donating to our Patreon ( https://www.patreon.com/PoliticsBuff ) or otherwise sharing this post.
PoliticsBuff 