what kind of relationship is
president-elect joe biden likely to have
with boris johnson the prime minister
said today that he was looking forward
to working with mr biden on climate
change as well as on
international trade and security but as
our diplomatic correspondent james
landale reports there are some
tricky issues ahead from the days of
margaret thatcher
joe biden has been no stranger to
britain making it his business to know
the prime ministers of the day
at least until now for boris johnson has
yet to meet the president-elect
and the two men have their differences
mr biden's described the pm
as a physical and emotional clone of
donald trump
and as for brexit had i been a member of
parliament
had i been a british citizen i would
have voted against
leaving views shaped in part by his
ancestry
mr biden a quick word for the bbc the
bbc
i'm irish he's made clear that peace in
northern ireland
should not become a casualty of brexit
with a uk u.s
trade deal very much on the line a
warning repeated by allies
there are of course significant concerns
here about how any departure arrangement
sort of final status
between the uk and eu might impact the
border in northern ireland
from downing street the prime minister
insisted the u.s was britain's closest
most important ally and there was a good
chance of a trade deal
there is far more that unites the
government of this country and
government in in washington any any time
that
any stage than divides us we have common
values we have common interests we have
a common
global perspective there are issues
where mr biden agrees with mr johnson
being tough on russia reviving the deal
curbing iran's nuclear programme
and agreeing new carbon reduction
targets at a big climate summit in
britain next year
above all a president who supports
multilateral organizations such as nato
unlike his predecessor but
the hard truth is that britain outside
the eu
is less useful to washington and so when
joe biden wants to influence europe he
will go to paris and berlin
not london there was a time when
american presidents were so important to
britain that
160 000 people paid a few pounds to
build a statue of one
like franklin roosevelt here but those
days are gone
joe biden's priorities will begin at
home fixing covid in the economy
allies trade deals may have to take
second place
so for now a relationship not as special
as once but
more predictable than of late with
perhaps
fewer tweets james landell bbc news
well let's explore further what a bright
biden presidency could mean
for the chances of a u.s trade deal with
darshani david our global trade
correspondent for
china with our correspondent john
sudworth in beijing
and first with our political editor
laura koonsberg laura do you think this
is going to be awkward between boris
johnson and joe biden
well michelle they're certainly not
political pals and the gap between their
political styles is about as wide as the
atlantic ocean that separates our two
country
and joe biden's made it perfectly clear
he's no fan of the brexit project which
of course is what propelled boris
johnson to downing street in the first
place
but pretty soon those caricatures if you
like will be replaced by a real-life
working
political relationship and as james was
suggesting there there's sort of a
tricky list where you have the trade
deal the relationship around brexit and
particularly northern ireland
but then also a list of chances and
opportunities for the uk
where the government hopes they might be
able to make more progress
under a biden presidency whether that's
on climate change or iran or the
attitude towards russia
so while boris johnson might have lost
something of a political
fellow traveler in donald trump who
shared something of a global political
moment
i think there is actually quite a
widespread welcome around these parts
for a political partner who will be seen
to be much more predictable
more dependable and a promoter of those
really important global institutions
like the un or nato
where britain is able to express its
power
and the truth of the matter is that
while the chemistry between the two
leaders in the white house and downing
street does
always matter the partnership between
the two countries is always much more
complicated
more permanent and also much more
extensive than
any two individuals will actually be
perhaps in the 21st century the real and
first challenge for boris johnson
will be persuading joe biden a time when
so many
nations will be clamoring for his
attention that britain is somewhere that
should come near the top of the list
laura koonsberg thank you very much and
let's explore the trade aspect of all of
this now with darshini david are the
chances of a u.s trade deal
higher or lower under president trump
than they were under
the under president biden under
president well it's a 220
billion pound question that's how much
trade goods and services crosses between
the two countries
everything from machines to advertising
in fact the us is the uk's
biggest destination for exports they're
our biggest foreign investor
they actually support more than a
million jobs here so
talks have been ongoing right up to the
election i understand they're in a
pretty advanced stage
but behind the scenes the uk trade team
has also been tapping up
the biden team as well and i understand
their objectives are actually quite
similar
to trump so that means that perhaps we
are going to see demand still for more
access for u.s farmers
but with the uk government doubling down
on that pledge not to lower food
standards
and giving our farmers more powers of
scrutiny chlorinated chicken
may be off the menu anyway but the real
difference is how fast a deal might be
done now uk officials want to see it
done by the middle of next year
that's when an agreement to fast track a
deal through congress expires
but the iceberg the potential iceberg
now on this transatlantic trading route
could be joe biden as we've been hearing
his disapproval of brexit
if we don't see a deal between the uk
and the eu and it's looking tight
and of course we do see the good friday
agreement perhaps looking at risk
he may just knock us off that list all
together on the other hand the u.s
economy
just like ours seeing its biggest crisis
in years decades possibly centuries any
opportunity to boost livelihoods and
trade might be too good to pass up
darshani thank you very much and with
that let's turn to john sudworth
in beijing one of the most striking
aspects of donald trump's foreign policy
was the trade war with china and the
pressure that he put under
beijing what happens to that under a
president biden
well so far michelle there's been no
official comment or congratulations
from beijing for joe biden and an
administration that you might think
would be delighted to see the back
of donald trump over the past four years
he has hit them with a trade war
punitive economic and political
sanctions and has
consistently blamed them for what he
calls
the china virus but in this deafening
silence there are some who see signs
that china may be
slightly disappointed that mr trump has
lost not because they hold out any
lasting sympathy for him of course but
because
in four more years they saw the
tantalizing prospect
of a greater prize divisive at home
isolationist at broad mr isolationist
abroad
mr trump seemed the very embodiment of
the long anticipated and long
hoped for decline in u.s power
for now though chinese state media is
doing what it's always been doing
focusing not on the policies
but on the chaos and confusion posting
pictures for example of
gun-toting trump supporters outside
polling stations
and the uh the mouthpiece of this
authoritarian superpower the people's
daily
even trolling him on their own social
media
platforms with tens of millions of
followers to one of his recent tweets
where he said
that he had won by a lot the people's
daily responded with just two words
haha it said john sodworth in beijing
thank you