On Aug. 9, U.S. President Joe Biden helped bolster the United States’ technological lead over China by signing the CHIPS Act. Despite the hype, though, the history shows that governments’ best-laid plans to develop technology often falter amid bureaucracy, inefficiency and an over-reliance on state control.
As Britain changes both head of state and government, it’s fair to ask if, moving forward, the US and UK’s “special relationship” will remain all that special. Skepticism among the British foreign policy community, imperial nostalgia and the harm a relationship of unquestioning loyalty has done in the past point toward no.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss this week held her first set of bilateral meetings with world leaders since taking office earlier this month. But there are questions about whether London can forge productive partnerships in a post-Brexit world with the U.S. and EU, and Truss’ meetings did little to assuage those doubts.
