Burgeoning business relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia could very well leave Britain on the outside looking in, The Telegraph reported Sunday.
President Donald Trump’s appearance and speech at last week’s Future Investment Initiative Priority conference in Miami — becoming the first president to address the summit — further signaled Saudi Arabia’s stature as the United States’ most prized ally, potentially boxing out Britain and Prime Minister Keir Starmer, according to The Telegraph.
Urban Coningham, research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, told The Telegraph that Trump is prioritizing Saudi Arabia “much more than Europe or poor old Keir Starmer.”
“Their interests are really aligning,” Coningham told The Telegraph of Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “They’re both transactionalists. And they’re both able to disregard what other leaders wouldn’t disregard.”
Bin Salman last month committed $600 billion to the U.S over the next four years, with Trump saying he would ask for it to get pushed to $1 trillion.
“If the Saudis do invest $1 trillion or even $600 billion to the U.S. then there is an opportunity cost to how much they can invest in the U.K.,” Coningham told The Telegraph.
Another analyst asserted that Britain can no longer bank on the “special relationship” with the U.S. with Trump as president.
“I think one of the elements of the Trump foreign policy which has already become clear is that traditional allies certainly don’t get special treatment because they have traditionally been special allies. It doesn’t count for much. Certainly in Europe,” Richard Haass, an American diplomat who served in President George W. Bush’s administration, told The Telegraph.
Haass added, “I’m not sure in this day and age we have any special relationship” with Britain.