What would you want to tell the next U.S. president? FP asked nine thinkers from around the world to write a letter with their advice for him or her.
What would you want to tell the next U.S. president? FP asked nine thinkers from around the world to write a letter with their advice for him or her.
Dear Madam or Mr. President,
As you take up the extraordinary challenges before you, I hope you will nurture the partnerships that have sustained the United States through the years. When I became the European Union’s foreign-policy chief, I learned two lessons very quickly: first, that no matter how powerful any nation is, no significant issue can be solved alone. Climate change, pandemics, organized crime, and cyberattacks all require responses beyond borders. Opportunities for our citizens to travel, study, trade, and do business need deals with other countries that last decades or more. Working together with other like-minded nations is vital if we are to keep people secure, grow our economies, and tackle new challenges.
The second lesson was the strength of the trans-Atlantic relationship. Every day, and all day, the flow of information, discussion, and debate across the Atlantic—between Brussels and Washington—was a vital part of doing business. Whether we were seeking to further develop our economies, keep our citizens safe, coordinate our defense strategies, or tackle foreign-policy crises, we were reminded daily of our partnership, based on common values and ideas.
Coming from the United Kingdom, I was mindful of the value of the “special relationship,” as Winston Churchill called it. Speaking in 1946 at the end of World War II, he knew the value of alliances and recognized the crucial way the United States had stood with Britain in its darkest times. He also valued the historical and cultural ties between our two nations. For the U.K., the special relationship has been the bedrock upon which our foreign, defense, and security policies have been forged. In recent times, we have stood together in Afghanistan, in Iraq, and now in Ukraine, facing down Russian aggression. The U.K. is the ever-reliable ally, ready to work with the United States to find answers in a world where crises seem to appear from nowhere.
Politicians since Churchill have interpreted the special relationship in different ways, but each president and prime minister have continued to value it and to rely on it. One reason the relationship is special is that it is unique. The U.K. has both historical ties across the Atlantic and geographical ties across the English Channel. The U.K. became a bridge between the United States and the EU. We relished that role, willing to ensure that U.S. priorities and ideas formed part of the backdrop to decisions on foreign, security, and defense policies within Europe.
Not all presidents or prime ministers have seen the EU as a positive force—or understood the remarkable achievement of what is now 27 countries cooperating every day on economic, security, and political issues. Never easy, it has come under greater strain in recent times as the very foundations of the EU have been challenged, but the union endures despite these pressures.
After I returned from Brussels, Britain took the decision to leave the EU, weakening its own economy and ability to act in the world. Its government ministers promised the opposite: a “global Britain” with grand ambitions to strike deals across the world that would turn the U.K. into a new kind of powerhouse. Reality killed the dream. Our departure from the EU did not just leave us without obvious ways to amplify and add to our foreign-policy priorities. It also undermined a core reason for the United States to value its relationship with us. Our value was lessened, our allure faded. Instead, Washington strengthened its already strong relationships with Berlin, Brussels, and Paris and worked with allies such as Poland under its new government to support Ukraine in its fight to retain its sovereignty.
But there is unquestionably still a role for the U.K. It ranks third after the United States and Germany in NATO defense spending and is regarded as a reliable partner by its allies. More than that, it has a strong diplomatic service and plays an important role in intelligence and security. A new government has been elected on the promise of a reset in relations with the EU, not just in foreign policy and defense but across a range of issues, including environmental ones, that matter to both sides. And in confronting those common challenges, there is a chance to offer the United States something new.
I would define this as becoming the third leg of a three-legged stool that consists of the United States, the EU, and the U.K. All three have much in common. Many Americans speak with pride of their Irish, German, Polish, Italian, or British heritage. And the same values and ideals have made us stand together in the face of aggression and crises.
While the bilateral links between each of the three are significant, a trilateral relationship offers strength and stability. A three-legged stool can carry significant weight without wobbling and is firmly planted on the ground. Each leg plays its part in holding the stool up and enabling it to bear the burdens placed on it. The power of the United States is unquestionable, and the economic strength of the EU is impressive, but the U.K. can add its strength, too, in terms of its intelligence, security, and defense capabilities, its diplomatic reach, and its role in the U.N. Security Council.
As you take office, among challenges both domestic and foreign, I hope the relationship between the U.K. and the United States will continue to be a constant that both our countries can rely on.
The United States may lead in terms of its competition with China and its leadership in artificial intelligence, among many other areas of knowledge and expertise. But the traditional role that the West, and the United States in particular, has played is changing. We can no longer simply assume support from countries across the world for the vision we have or the rules-based order we have produced or expect them to join us in common cause against those who would change it for the worse.
Such challenges make strong alliances, in every field, all the more important. And old, reliable alliances are as much in the interests of the United States as they are of the U.K. and EU, even if they creak from time to time. Our duty is one of constant renewal, to make them stronger. We have no choice but to collaborate to resolve problems—the question is who our allies are and who we can turn to. The three-legged stool is vital to this process.
Things are not the same as when the U.K. was part of the EU, but it is still a strong and determined ally with strong links to Europe, especially through NATO. This alliance would be one Churchill would recognize and I believe would welcome. I hope you, my American friends, would welcome it, too.
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