Show of Solidarity: Sunak visits Biden for the first time at the White House

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In addition to intensified economic cooperation and continued support for Ukraine, the US and Britain also want to keep pace with the regulation of artificial intelligence. “Today there is no country closer to us than Britain,” Biden said at the joint press conference.

Washington and London are committed to building resilient, diversified and secure supply chains together and reducing strategic dependencies, the White House said after the Biden-Sunak meeting. They want to play a leading role in “future technologies” and make sure “new technologies work for our democracies and our security and not against them.” In addition, it is about “further strengthening our alliance in the fields of defence, health security and aerospace”.

“Countries like China and Russia are willing to manipulate and exploit our openness, steal our intellectual property, use technology for authoritarian purposes or take away important resources such as energy,” Sunak said. But they won’t be able to. Sunak spoke of an economic partnership with the US “for a new era that has never existed before”. When asked whether the cooperation fell far short of the free trade agreement desired by London, the prime minister replied: “Joe and I have talked about that before: the economic relationship between our two countries has never been stronger.”

Biden emphasized his belief in London for leadership in regulating artificial intelligence. There is “no country in which we have more confidence” to meet the challenges, the US president said. Given the rapid development in the field, the UK is planning an international summit, which Sunak also discussed during the meeting with Biden. Sunak spoke at the White House of “guard rails” to contain the powerful technology – which in many areas could bring great benefits as well as great harm.

With regard to military support to Ukraine in the defensive fight against Russia, both heads of government confirmed their longstanding support for Kiev. Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin believes the alliance is getting tired and giving up, Sunak said. “But that’s not the case (…) We’re not going anywhere.” You will be there for Ukraine as long as it is needed. Biden said they are also looking for long-term support to “deter future aggression.”

The meeting at the White House was the fourth between the US president and the British in four months. The British government was keen to emphasize this fact as a sign of traditionally close ties across the Atlantic. It is still clear how, during his recent visit to Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, Biden fobbed off the British Prime Minister with only a brief bilateral meeting in a hotel bar, before spending days in Ireland to to celebrate his descent from the Emerald Isle. British media were annoyed.

The American Democrat, who is almost twice the age of the conservative Briton, later said that with his trip he wanted to make it clear to the British that they had to comply with the difficult agreement with Brussels on the Brexit rules for Northern Ireland. One reason for Biden’s skepticism is Britain’s departure from the EU. Unlike his predecessor Donald Trump, who promised Britain a quick major post-Brexit trade deal, Biden was never a fan of Britain’s exit from the EU.

In the meantime, however, relations would have improved, diplomats said prior to the visit. This is mainly due to the great British commitment to Ukraine. Sunak has repeatedly advanced with shipments of weapons, be it main battle tanks, longer-range cruise missiles or the creation of a “jet fighter coalition”. However, after their meeting, Biden and Sunak did not speak publicly about more detailed plans for a possible delivery of American-designed F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

(SDA)

Source: Blick