Concordia

Concordia Winter 2021

Brexit

Mid-Atlantic Shift

President of the OMT Society, Duncan Edwards (1977-1981) , is CEO of BritishAmerican Business. He assesses the transatlantic relationship in view of recent geopolitical shifts.

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I n March 2021 I spoke to a group of boys, parents and OMTs about the state of the US-UK relationship in the aftermath of the Biden presidential win and the completion of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. Nine months on it is worth taking stock again of how things have played out between these two most long-standing of allies. In doing so it is worth remembering that what binds these two countries together more than anything, and what is really meant by the ‘special relationship’, is the security and intelligence partnership which was created between Roosevelt and Churchill during WW2 and was cemented during the Cold War. This is the partnership which transcends the day-to-day political climate and whoever happens to be in the White House or No.10; it is the partnership that exists between the military and intelligence agencies and on which the cornerstone of the Nato Alliance is built. The announcement of the AUKUS agreement between the US, UK and Australia, through which the US and UK will share submarine technology with the Australians, has made this partnership even stronger and even deeper. This feels like one of the biggest geo-political decisions of recent decades and makes a clear statement that the US, UK and Australia fundamentally see the world in a similar way and will seek to act to protect the liberal democratic values of the anglophone world. The other important aspect of the unusually close relationship between the US and UK is the extent of the investment and business ties that exist between the two countries. Since the minor skirmish in 1812, the businesses of both countries

have been investing in each other’s market and the scale of the mutual, cumulative investment is greater than exists between any two other sovereign entities. This means that UK businesses are operating in every State of the Union and in every Congressional District, employing local people and contributing to the prosperity of the market. The same is true in the UK, with close to 1.5 million Brits working for US-owned firms and millions more in their supply chains. A recent survey of US corporations by BritishAmerican Business (of which I am CEO) showed an astonishingly high degree of confidence in the UK as a place for US firms to invest, do business, employ people, and conduct research and development, and inward investment flows support this sentiment. Of course, nothing should be taken for granted and there are always things that could be better. In the same confidence survey, we found US corporations remain concerned about the potential frictions not yet fully resolved by the post-Brexit settlement with the EU. Most large companies are dealing with these issues pretty well, but there is clearly room for improvement, especially in complex manufacturing industries. There is also scope for this to get worse if the attempts to solve the Northern Ireland issue trigger a political response from the White House. There is also lots of room for improvement in trade between the two countries: trade talks which had been making good progress up until 3rd November 2020 have been suspended by the US administration, which is focussing on its