The News
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is proving himself to be something of a globetrotter: He’ll have taken at least 10 overseas trips by the end of November, to countries including the US, Germany, France, and Brazil.
Downing Street has said Starmer is “very clear that international co-operation is key to delivering for the British people,” but the UK — now caught between China, the US, and the EU — may struggle to chart a course that keeps everyone on side.
SIGNALS
The UK has a loneliness problem
Starmer’s diplomatic blitz is partly an attempt to distinguish himself from his Conservative predecessor Rishi Sunak, who showed little interest in reestablishing Britain on the world stage post-Brexit, Sky News’ deputy political editor wrote. But the UK does have a loneliness problem to address: No country had a “cushier” place in the world than the UK did a decade ago — as a member of the European Union, a close ally of the US, and a potential link between the West and China — a columnist argued in the Financial Times. With the accession of Donald Trump in the US, some analysts are warning that the UK will soon have to make a choice between Washington and Brussels.
Whether the UK could be spared in a global trade war remains to be seen
Trump has floated the idea of negotiating tariff exemptions with the UK, and his “fondness” for the country and wish to see a “successful Brexit” could ultimately save it from the worst effects of a global trade war, a political appointee in Trump’s previous administration told The Independent. Other insiders disagree: “I don’t see a special deal coming for the UK,” a former US ambassador told The Times of London.