US-UK Rift: Could Differences Between Johnson and Biden Lead to Deep Row Between the Nations?

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has come up with a plan to repurpose arable land which is at present used for crop-based biofuels so that more food might be grown as food prices and inflation soar.

However, officials of US President Joe Biden made it clear on 26 June that Washington wouldn't "okay" Johnson's initiative in a bid to protect American farmers and avoid breaking climate commitments. According to the British daily newspaper, The Daily Telegraph, Germany appears to back the British premier's plan whereas Canada and the US have rejected it. Johnson's plan needs the unanimous support from all G7 nations for it to fly.

"I think the rift is one that happens periodically between the UK and US - without minimizing the significance, there have been tensions on trade issues for some years now (including the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on the UK). How serious it becomes is questionable," says Professor Robert Singh, specialist in contemporary US politics at the University of London's Birkbeck College.

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Previously, Johnson and Biden clashed over Brexit customs issues and the Northern Ireland Protocol with the American president reportedly accusing the British premier of "inflaming" Irish tensions ahead of the 2021 G7 Summit in Cornwall.

Given the record of friction between Biden and Johnson, it appears likely that if the UK does legislate to revise the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP), Washington will react negatively, Singh suggests. Downing Street has published a Bill proposing to change the protocol unilaterally in favor of British businesses and communities. It would also grant the British government powers to amend the agreement further if appropriate.

"It's possible that [the NIP amendment] could then inflame the trade issue further," says Singh. "[I]t will worsen the Johnson government's record, at a time when the cost of living crisis, inflation, and many other problems are piling up. It's probably, on balance, yet another own goal by Johnson - an unnecessary diplomatic row that was avoidable."

To complicate matters even more, Johnson skipped a climate summit hosted by Biden for world leaders earlier this month, despite 15 other heads of state and government attending the virtual gathering. According to Politico, the premier's absence "reverses a previous snub from Biden" who declined to attend a climate meeting Johnson hosted on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in 2021.

Yet another diplomatic row rocked London and Washington after the UK issued licences to four British flagged vessels to fish for Patagonian toothfish - also known as Chilean seabass - near Antarctica. Earlier, a 26-member fishing regulatory body, the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) set specific catch limits for the species. The US immediately accused Britain of breaching the commission's rules, rendering the catch illegal. The feud could lead to an import ban on Patagonian toothfish, according to the media.

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UK-US Spat Can be Fixed Quicker Than That Between UK and EU

The UK-US tensions are unlikely to lead to a serious breach in relations in the near future, insists Dr Roslyn Fuller, director of the non-profit think-tank Solonian Democracy Institute and the author of the book Beasts and Gods: How Democracy Changed Its Meaning and Lost Its Purpose.

"Johnson and Biden are both career politicians and will probably behave pragmatically," says Fuller. "Even were they to exaggerate their differences in the press to play to their respective electorate, this would be unlikely to affect their highly connected working relationship greatly."

Though the NIP issue could cause some additional tensions between the UK and the US, the nations are likely to solve relatively minor dilemmas, such as the spat over the toothfish catch, according to the author.

"As the two major English-speaking powers and neoliberal nations that have cooperated intensely on military matters in the past, it would be quite stupid on their part to indulge in any serious in-fighting," she says. "I think the US is paying increasing attention to Germany as the remaining European superpower, but that doesn't necessarily have to come at the expense of the British."

However, when it comes to the UK and the EU, the rift between them indeed appears to be deepening, according to Fuller:

"Britain also obviously lost faith in the EU and its regulatory regime, and clearly wants to go its own way to the extent that it can," the author says. "This is thus an example of increasing global fragmentation."