After
Brexit, Rapprochement? How Trump’s America Is Reuniting Europe.
A summit on
Monday between Britain and the European Union, expected to include a defense
pact, may kick-start a new era.
Jeanna
Smialek Stephen Castle
By Jeanna
Smialek and Stephen Castle
Jeanna
Smialek reported from Brussels, and Stephen Castle from London.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/world/europe/uk-eu-summit-trump.html
May 18,
2025, 12:01 a.m. ET
Brexit tore
the United Kingdom and the European Union apart. Now, President Trump’s America
is prodding them back together.
Five years
after Britain formally exited the European Union, their leaders are moving
cautiously toward a new era of cooperation. In an event that has been billed as
a major reset of relations, the two sides will meet for a summit on Monday in
London.
They are
expected to announce a landmark defense and security agreement intended to
bolster military security in Europe as the United States downgrades its
commitment to the continent. Negotiators could also announce plans to relax
some rules on food trade and to deepen energy cooperation.
Admittedly,
reaching agreement on the shape of the new relationship has not been easy.
Despite the high stakes on defense, more prosaic concerns, including fishing
rights and a plan for youth travel between countries, have remained painful
sticking points for negotiators.
But Monday’s
event aims to underscore the commitment of the two partners to working together
during an increasingly fraught geopolitical era. Hanging over the broad agenda
will be one overarching theme: how to push ahead in a world where the United
States is pulling back.
After
decades of global leadership on defense and an embrace of free trade, the
United States’ role in the world is being fundamentally reworked by the Trump
administration. Mr. Trump has been pushing for Europe to shoulder more
responsibility for defense. He has moved away from full-throated support for
Ukraine, and has drawn rhetorically closer to Russia. And he has waged a trade
war on the world, slapping diplomatic friends and foes alike with much higher
tariffs.
While
Britain has struck a limited trade pact with the United States, it is light on
detail and not yet finalized. The European Union has made little obvious
progress toward any agreement, and has unveiled plans to hit back at America if
no deal is reached.
Against that
backdrop, Monday’s meeting has taken on a heightened significance. Britain may
have broken up with the bloc because it wanted to go it alone economically, but
the United States has reminded both partners that they share a set of daunting
common problems. Cooperation will be key.
“The
partnership is very important in this very turbulent time,” Kaja Kallas, the
European Union’s chief diplomat, said last week. John Healey, the British
defense secretary, signaled the same, telling Bloomberg that the “security
challenges we face in Europe” required the two powers to “work together.”
Britain’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, said in a statement that “in this time
of great uncertainty and volatility the U.K. will not respond by turning
inward, but by proudly taking our place on the world stage — strengthening our
alliances.”
A new
defense and security pact
E.U.
ambassadors will convene on Sunday to discuss final details ahead of the
summit. But a new defense partnership has long been expected.
The European
Union has been rolling out programs to shore up its own military sector,
galvanized by Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, as well as evidence that
Moscow is conducting a hybrid war of sabotage and espionage on European
streets. Officials fear that Russia could threaten other European nations
within the next decade, and they believe they need to be prepared to defend
themselves should that happen.
But as the
European Union’s efforts ramp up, major questions persist about how big of a
role Britain — which, after all, chose to leave the bloc — should be allowed to
play, particularly in a 150 billion euro loan program to fund joint defense
procurement.
The United
Kingdom, and its defense sector, have been pushing for inclusion, but some
European Union countries, notably France, want to limit British participation.
Another
summit priority is economic cooperation, where Britain may have benefits to
gain. The Brexit trade deal negotiated by Boris Johnson, who was the British
prime minister at the time, is considered to have largely favored the European
Union. And with growth flatlining, Mr. Starmer is hoping to reduce or remove
some trade controls, including on exports of food and animal products.
Even so,
“Britain is negotiating from a position of weakness because the trade and
cooperation agreement works quite well for the E.U.,” noted Jill Rutter, a
senior research fellow at U.K. in a Changing Europe, a think tank in London.
According to
Mr. Starmer’s office, the agreement will help British producers “who face red
tape and checks just to export to our nearest and biggest trading partner — or
sometimes can’t export at all.”
Many experts
believe that the rapprochement may be more symbolic than practical, however.
“It’s
important for European security that Britain is linked to these European
schemes,” said Anand Menon, a professor of European politics at King’s College
London. But he added, “I don’t think, economically, it’s a game changer.”
In exchange
for a deal allowing smoother trade in food products, Britain could agree to
align its standards with Europe, change relevant laws when Brussels does and
accept rulings from the European Court of Justice, the bloc’s top legal
authority.
Those steps
would create political risks for Mr. Starmer, who is already under political
pressure at home from Nigel Farage, the veteran pro-Brexit campaigner who now
leads a right-wing populist party, Reform U.K.
Sticking
points: Young people and … fish
Two of the
most difficult areas of negotiation have involved a plan to allow young people
to travel more easily between the European Union and Britain, and the future of
fishing rights.
The two
sides have been negotiating toward a “youth mobility scheme” that would offer
visas to some young people to work, study or travel within each other’s
borders. Britain, which is trying to reduce immigration, wants to limit the
scope of any plan. There has also been friction over university fees, as Europe
has pushed for Britain to offer European students the same fees that British
students pay.
Access to
fishing waters has been another major sticking point. The bloc wanted to extend
— perhaps indefinitely, but in any case, for a long time — the access for its
fishers to British waters that was decided upon after Brexit. That deal expires
in 2026. Britain had been floating a shorter-term deal, perhaps four years.
Wouter Beke,
a member of the European Parliament from Belgium — home to a substantial
commercial fishing industry — sent the European Union executive body a letter
urging it to include fishery rights as part of the deal. He said it was
important that the countries come up with a solution that could provide fishers
with certainty.
“Five years
after the Brexit, this is the start of a new relationship,” he said. “The
transition period has come to an end, and we have to see how we can create the
future, together.”
Jeanna
Smialek is the Brussels bureau chief for The Times.
Stephen
Castle is a London correspondent of The Times, writing widely about Britain,
its politics and the country’s relationship with Europe.
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