UK urged to align with Trump on China or lose favored status in Washington

FIRST ON FOX: As President Donald Trump reshapes American foreign policy around hard-nosed deals and national self-interest, a new report warns the UK must rethink its strategy to preserve its “special relationship” – or risk being sidelined in Washington.

Darren Spinck, a fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, cautions that there will be no “business as usual” under Trump and that the “special relationship” between the U.S. and UK can no longer be taken for granted. To remain a key ally, Spinck argues in a new report, Britain must embrace Trump’s “transactional” approach to foreign policy.  

“Choosing not to retaliate” against Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs may signal a “strategic patience that may facilitate bilateral negotiations,” the report states. It outlines steps that Prime Minister Keir Starmer could take to align with the Trump administration and pursue a U.S.-UK free trade deal, including deeper security cooperation and a tougher stance on China.

Trump recently imposed 10% across-the-board tariffs on foreign nations and paused harsher levies he earlier proposed on every nation except China. 

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Another path, the report suggests, could involve the UK seeking accession to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the North American trade bloc, as a way to deepen economic ties with the United States.

The report also urges the UK Labour Party leadership to “reduce commercial dependency on the PRC rather than deepening it,” warning that closer economic ties with Beijing could strain U.S.-UK relations under Trump.

Spinck contrasted the Trump administration’s focus on “bilateralism, economic nationalism, and Indo-Pacific security” with the Starmer government’s preference for “multilateral diplomacy, progressive trade policies, and European security commitments.”

“This policy gap threatens transatlantic cohesion, weakening their collective ability to act against common adversaries, particularly China,” he warned. 

Divergent policies on China, NATO commitments and Indo-Pacific strategy could erode Five Eyes intelligence sharing, which is key to UK national security.

Spinck called on the British government to strike a deal with the U.S. that addresses the White House’s digital privacy concerns – particularly after the UK ordered Apple to grant security agencies access to encrypted cloud data – and to launch a mineral mining partnership to bolster critical supply chains.

Whereas the previous conservative UK government deemed China its “greatest state-based threat,” the current liberal leadership has “reversed the course of the previous three Conservative Party Governments and has sought to strengthen economic ties with Beijing,” according to Spink. 

He said the UK had recently advanced Beijing’s access to Western capital markets and re-established bilateral frameworks on industrial, trade and energy policy with China. 

“​​One must wonder why London appears eager to expand economic ties with China – a country widely criticized for its human rights record – while the UK’s development finance institution has been less inclined to support international infrastructure development or mining projects in other regions.”

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“As the Trump Administration seeks to further accelerate America’s decoupling from targeted CCP economic and technology sectors, the US feels that the Labour Government’s apparent rapprochement with Beijing, after years of cautious relations following the PRC’s 2020 breach of the Sino–British Joint Declaration, could unnecessarily complicate the “Special Relationship,” Spink wrote. 

He said that critical issues “requiring transatlantic cooperation,” such as a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, are “at risk” if the U.S. and the UK are not aligned on China policy.

The UK must also set aside its disagreements over U.S. domestic policy, according to Spinck, due to the more urgent need for security cooperation. 

“As the Labour Government works with President Trump’s Administration, it should realize its views on a wide range of policies, including immigration, climate policy, digital privacy and welfare benefits, are vastly different,” he wrote. 

He said such “fractures” like the UK government’s demand for backdoor access to Apple’s encrypted cloud storage “have begun to define the overall relationship between the two allies, impacting the potential for foreign policy alignment.”

“Overcoming these cultural differences requires a shift to a more transactional model of foreign policy cooperation. Britain needs to take an active role in re-setting this agenda, pushing questions of domestic ideology to the margins in favor of solid, mutually beneficial measures.”

The UK could also signal goodwill by taking a tougher diplomatic stance on Iran. Spinck urged London to help close the “transatlantic divide” on Iran policy, which he said has “disrupted attempts to forge a coherent approach to stopping Iran’s nuclear progress.”

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While the U.S. withdrew from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and imposed sweeping sanctions, the UK remained a party and declined to trigger snapback sanctions – even amid reports that Iran had violated the agreement and was enriching uranium to near-weapons-grade levels.

Spink also urged the UK to join the U.S. in designating Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. Such moves, he argued, “would also be seen as a victory for the long-established Trump policy on Iran – one that would cost the UK nothing and would generate much goodwill in Washington, D.C.”