In The News

UK-US Trade Deal Not Easy: JD Supra

Sophie Berner-Eyde July 29, 2019
US President Donald Trump has suggested that he and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson have plans for a “very substantial” trade deal. The UK cannot negotiate a trade deal until after it leaves the European Union, scheduled for October 31. “UK-U.S. preliminary talks on a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) spanning the last two years, however, have failed to show any meaningful progress and are...

Six Foreign Policy Issues for Boris Johnson: BBC

James Landale July 24, 2019
Longtime Brexit proponent Boris Johnson is the UK’s next prime minister and he confronts a range of foreign policies besides Brexit. For the BBC News, James Landale offered a foreign policy to-do list: repair UK-US relations and replace the British ambassador described the Trump administration as dysfunctional; negotiate a trade agreement with the US while smoothing differences on China and Iran...

UK to Look After Own Ships in the Gulf: Guardian

Patrick Wintour July 22, 2019
Britain seized an Iranian ship off Gibraltar for transporting oil to Syria before Iran seized a British ship, with a crew of mostly Indian nationals. Speaking on a US television channel, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US has plans for a military convoy to protect international shipping off the Iranian coast and suggested the UK has a responsibility to protect its own ships....

British Ambassador Resigns: The Independent

Kim Sengupta and Rob Merrick July 10, 2019
British Ambassador to the US Kim Darroch resigned soon after release of his candid assessments describing the US president and his administration as inept and insecure. The UK is in the midst of a prime minister race after Theresa May failed to secure parliamentary agreement on Brexit plans. The candidates: Jeremy Hunt supported Darroch and Boris Johnson declined to do so: “it is understood [...

Anglo-American Relations: Columbia Journalism Review

John Allsop July 9, 2019
Newspapers printed leaked diplomatic correspondence describing the Trump administration as “dysfunctional” and “diplomatically clumsy and inept.” The initial news report, acknowledging the US president is “notoriously thin-skinned, exposes concerns about the reliability of the United States as an ally, and the Trump administration responded that that it will no longer work with Ambassador Kim...

Center-Right Regains Power in Greece: BBC

Mark Lowen July 8, 2019
Kyriakos Mitsotakis and the New Democracy party won a snap election in Greece, defeating Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The ruling government lost support amid high youth unemployment and a struggling economy along with failure to deliver on promises to end austerity. Early results in an election gave New Democracy nearly 40 percent of the vote and Syriza just over 30 percent; far-right Golden...

Europe’s Heat Wave: BBC

Rob Picheta June 30, 2019
A heat wave is spreading across Europe with temperatures exceeding 35 degrees Celsius, or 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and other nations reported records. Spain’s meteorological agency reported a mass of tropical wind is coming in from Africa, and the high temperatures are disrupting business and recreation activities. “French authorities have taken a number of...