Some European trade experts worry that Britain could become a new arena for great-power rivalries
without a deal. Markets and sterling are plummeting. The country has left the’s foreign-policy structures without any framework for future relations. Its government falls. A new prime minister scans the world for friends and picks up the phone to the White House, Zhongnanhai in Beijing or even Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin.
Such an outcome is very unlikely: for a start, Theresa May could even now just squeeze her deal through. Yet European leaders and officials are spooked as they contemplate a no-deal Brexit, or even a hard one as Mrs May intends. This shapes their posture and reveals something of their wider state of mind. They reckon that an acrimonious divorce could make Britain desperate for trade deals with giant partners like America, China and others.
No-one expects an overnight transformation. The concern is more that Britain’s need for new trading partners and inward investment, and its absence from commonforums, will over time pull it away from the European fold. Among the more lurid predictions are those by Marc Roche,’s correspondent in London, who imagines Britain ending up as a “tax haven at Europe’s gates” and “China’s Trojan horse in Europe”.
The continentals should not worry so much. Britain has always been a mercantile, semi-detached sort of European foreign-policy power. Brexit could accentuate the country’s relative openness to foreign cash but is not its cause. Beijing first declared a new Anglo-Chinese “golden age” in 2015 and seems to have since lost interest in the country as a backdoor to Europe.
Second, Europe’s anxieties are symptomatic of the times. After years of complacency, it is slowly taking its own geopolitical situation more seriously. There is talk, though little action, about seeking “strategic autonomy” from America. Theis increasing efforts to curb Russian-backed political interference and has introduced a screening mechanism for Chinese investments. At their summit on March 26th Mr Macron and Mrs Merkel chided Xi Jinping for trying to exploit Europe’s divisions.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Perspective | It’s time to do away with laws enforcing triumphal national historiesPerspective: It’s time to do away with laws enforcing triumphal national histories
Read more »
Family frets after Chicago-area man diagnosed with cancer is deported to MexicoLuis Ugalde-Pacheco, 28, who was recently diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, was deported to Mexico on Friday. He’d called Chicago’s southwest suburbs home since he was about 7 years old when he came to the United States illegally with his father.
Read more »
Graham frets over Trump’s mixed signals on LibyaLindsey Graham, Donald Trump's voluble Capitol Hill defender, is worried that the president's chatter is undermining efforts to stop Libya from falling into an all-out civil war
Read more »
Perspective | The ‘uncured’ bacon illusion: It’s actually cured, and it’s not better for you.The 'uncured' bacon illusion: It’s actually cured, and it’s not better for you.
Read more »
The biggest video game in the world is coming to theaters, but it's still a few years away'Minecraft' is moving from your video game console to the big screen, but not until at least 2022.
Read more »
Kyrgyzstan’s neighbours have too little politics, but it has too muchDemocracy has not served the 6m people of Kyrgyzstan particularly well, even if they would not swap it for the dictatorships of their neighbours
Read more »
Neighbors come together after Charleston family’s pride flag is burnedAn LGBTQ advocacy group is giving away free rainbow flags after a family in Charleston, South Carolina, says their pride flag was burned.
Read more »
SC man gets 10 years for attempted hit on black neighborGREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — A white South Carolina man who pleaded guilty to trying to hire a hit man from the Ku Klux Klan to kill a black neighbor has been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison.
Read more »
Federal report contradicts EPA chief's claims that climate change impacts are decades away, environmental group saysA federal report contradicts the EPA chief's claims that climate change impacts are decades away, an environmental group says
Read more »
With Self-Driving Cars Still Years Away, Phantom Auto Finds New Niche Teleoperating RobotsSelf-driving cars on public roads may be years away, but robots on the sidewalks are already here, and will soon become a lot more common.
Read more »