UK's Sunak visits Washington to strengthen ties, watch baseball – having already struck out on trade deal

Garret Martin, Senior Professorial Lecturer, Co-Director Transatlantic Policy Center, American University School of International Service, The Conversation on Jun 6, 2023

Published in Political News

The prime minister has signaled on many occasions his very close alignment with the U.S. insofar as tackling China. At the recent G7 summit in Japan, Sunak defined Beijing as “the biggest challenge of our age to global security and prosperity.” And the March 2023 signing of the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal in San Diego further confirmed the U.K.’s tilt to the Indo-Pacific.

Regarding Ukraine, the U.K. has frequently been at the vanguard of providing support and new weapons to Kyiv. In May 2023, Sunak announced a plan, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, to build an “international coalition” to help Ukraine acquire F-16 fighter jets.

Britain also led the way in being the first Western country to supply long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine. This was after being the first country to agree to deliver battle tanks to support the Ukrainian army. And that bullishness, reportedly played a key part in convincing Washington to lift its objection to sending F-16s to Ukraine.

The alignment in the field of global security will undoubtedly help Sunak’s attempt to ingratiate himself with Biden. But the harder test will be whether this convergence between Washington and London can extend to NATO.

The alliance will hold a crucial summit in Lithuania in July, where it will discuss longer-term plans to support Ukraine. That will include the thorny question of offering NATO membership to Kiev, which does not yet have unanimous support among members.

Even without talk of a trade deal, in terms of agenda items on Sunak’s visit the bases are loaded. It is questionable whether he can pull off a home run though.

This article is republished from The Conversation, an independent nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. The Conversation has a variety of fascinating free newsletters.

Garret Martin receives funding from the European Union for the research center he co-directs at American University, the Transatlantic Policy Center.