The writer is an FT contributing editor
You could touch the relief in Whitehall. Donald Trump’s retreat from his threatened annexation of Greenland spared Britain the economic recession that would have been likely to follow a transatlantic trade war. But there was more. For Sir Keir Starmer’s government, the US about-turn deferred a painful moment of strategic reckoning. Britain has long been America’s best, and most dependent, ally in Europe. A decade ago, the Brexit vote put it outside its neighbours in the EU. It is not going to be easy to turn history on its head.
In Paris, policymakers talk about Britain’s Suez question. The British and French agree that, absent the guarantee once provided by the Americans, European security requires partnership between the continent’s two nuclear-armed powers. Germany will boast the largest military, but Britain and France have the global strategic outlook and experience. Then comes “the question”. Will Starmer, the French ask, choose Europe over the US when the stakes really count?