The US–UK Special Relationship and the “Principled Realism” of the Trump Administration

Abstract

The United States remains the core provider of global security and stability, and the principal stakeholder in the liberal international order. The US–UK relationship has been traditionally considered the core of America’s Euro-Atlantic strategy. Today there is a growing realization in Washington that the established institutional formulae framing America’s core alliances, have reached an inflection point, whereby they need a new strategy for how Washington works with its allies and partners. With the arrival of the Trump administration, the United States is poised to redefine how it interacts with the world—both in terms of how it frames its security and defense policies (the recently released National Security Strategy and the National Defense Strategy are harbingers of America’s new modus operandi, with a new National Military Strategy soon to follow). This presents the United Kingdom both with a challenge and an opportunity to become the key strategic partner of the United States in an era in which state-on-state conflict has once again emerged as the principal strategic consideration. This chapter will examine the principles of the emerging American security strategy in the Trump era, focusing on what likeminded states bring to the table. It will pay special attention to the role of the United Kingdom as Europe’s quintessential naval power, seeking to identify what steps London needs to take to deepen its historical ties with Washington going forward.