(VOVWORLD) - Rishi Sunak's first visit to the United States as Britain’s Prime Minister last week achieved remarkable results with the signing of the Atlantic Declaration. The document not only will shape future economic cooperation between the two countries, but also proves that the UK-US relationship is warming again after taking a hit from Donald Trump and Brexit.
 British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden (photo: The Guardian) |
The US is the UK's largest trading partner (accounting for 16.3% of total foreign trade) and the UK is the US’s 7th largest trading partner. Their total trade was nearly 350 billion USD last year.
Micro economic deals
With the Atlantic Declaration, the UK and the US agreed to boost trade ties in key areas, including Artificial Intelligence (AI), 5G and 6G telecommunications, quantum computers, semiconductors, and biotechnology, and committed to loosening protectionism barriers, strengthening defense ties, and cooperating in data protection. In addition, in a concession by the US, the Declaration also mentioned minimizing the impact of the Inflation Reduction Law.
Through a key minerals deal, the US allows UK electric carmakers to use UK-made batteries or products sourced from countries with which the US has agreements on key minerals to enjoy a tax credit of 3,750 USD per vehicle, which will benefit the UK electric vehicle supply chain.
Besides, President Biden promised to ask the US Senate to approve the UK as a "domestic source" under the US Defense Procurement Act to promote bilateral cooperation on military technology.
According to analysts, the Atlantic Declaration is nothing more than a series of small economic agreements. However, the symbolism of this statement is important. Sunak hailed the Declaration as "a new economic partnership for a new age, of a kind that has never been seen before". He said the agreement will help British companies meet current and future challenges.
Opportunities to renew special relationship
The Atlantic Declaration is seen as a landmark agreement, bringing Britain into the economic orbit of the US and marking the revival of bilateral relations. It came after Britain gave up hope of a comprehensive free trade deal with the US. This new approach is intended to better respond to global economic challenges, according to British officials. In general, observers in the UK are quite positive about the Declaration, considering it a victory in foreign affairs by the British government.
Of course, there are also sharp criticisms from the UK's opposition parties that the Declaration does not have enough economic and political weight, and is not worthy of the traditional special alliance between the two countries.
However, at a time when all policies of the current US administration are built on the basis of putting US interests first, the fact that Britain is granted certain privileges in economic relations with the US can be seen as something not easy to obtain, showing that the US still attaches great importance to relations with Britain.
The results of the US visit confirmed Prime Minister Sunak’s statement that the UK-US relationship is an indispensable alliance as both of them share beliefs and pursue the same goals and ideology.
The US is Britain's closest ally and the two countries are each other's top-priority partner in everything from national security to economic development. Sunak said he believes that by combining economic resources and sharing expertise, the two countries will develop their economies, create jobs, and ensure long-term safety for their people.
President Biden said the special relationship between the two countries is very good and no country is closer to the US than the UK.