Rishi Sunak travels to the USA for meeting with Biden

Niall Carson/Pool Photo via AP

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has travelled to the USA to discuss relations between the USA and UK. Despite meeting President Joe Biden four times in the last four months, this is the first meeting between the pair in the United States.

As questions continue to mount in regard to President Biden’s cognitive abilities, many may remember President Biden congratulating the Prime Minister with a made-up name last autumn, when he referred to him as Rashi Sanook.

The pair are planning on discussing the so-called climate crisis, in reference to which the Prime Minister said "subsidy races" were not a solution to hitting climate goals. Some British Conservative ministers have criticised President Biden's Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), claiming it is harmful to world trade. The law includes $370bn (£297bn) to boost green technology in the US.

Like most international political meetings, the President and Prime Minister will discuss trade between the two countries. With talks of a potential recession in the UK, British businesses will encourage the Prime Minister to strengthen UK-U.S. economic and business ties. The UK exports more goods and services to America than any other nation-state. American businesses have almost $1 trillion (£800 billion) of investments in the UK, and British businesses have over $500 billion (£400 billion) invested on the other side of the Atlantic. Although they are already impressive, there is scope for even stronger ties.

While in transit to the American capital, the Prime Minister was asked if there was anything President Biden could do to ease the impact of his economic package on the UK. "It's something that he and I have discussed in the past and you'd expect us to continue discussing it," the Prime Minister said.

Another discussion expected to be had is around artificial intelligence (AI), with the Prime Minister seeking to make the UK play a key role as a global player. The UK is hosting a global summit on AI regulation in the autumn, and it is understood the Prime Minister has a keen interest in the UK hosting any new international regulator for the emerging technology.

This may be difficult, because just how much influence the UK will have to shape new global rules outside the EU is unclear, with the UK no longer part of key gatherings between European and American regulators such as the Tech and Trade Council (TTC).

Finally, the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine will certainly be on the agenda for discussion, since the Ukrainian dam near Nova Kakhovka has collapsed. Despite speculation, the exact cause of the collapse at this point remains unclear.