19 Jan What we learned from Keir Starmer’s speech on Greenland and UK-US Relations of the world order

Over the weekend President Trump threatened to introduce 10% tariffs on seven European allies, including the UK, from the 1st February until the United States acquired control of Greenland. The announcement sent Europe into crisis mode, with leaders scrambling to reaffirm their commitment to Greenland, while seeking a swift solution to growing tensions with the United States. 

So where does the UK stand? Prime Minister Keir Starmer set out the UK’s position directly to the nation with a speech from Downing Street. 

Starmer reaffirmed his commitment to the United States-UK relationship, albeit in more transactional terms 

This was no Love Actually moment for the Prime Minister. In contrast to some of the strong rhetoric from European allies, not least French President Emmanuel Marcon, Prime Minister Keir Starmer utilised the opportunity to reaffirm the importance of the UK-US relationship. He began his speech stating that the relationship “matters profoundly – not just to our security, but to the prosperity and the stability that people here at home depend on.”  

He spoke of the economic benefits of partnership, American investment in the UK, and trade terms on key UK industries like cars, steel and aerospace. However, it was the defence, security, nuclear and intelligence ties the Prime Minister kept going back to, reflecting the real challenge the UK faces – its security ties with the United States are so deep, it makes distancing itself from the United States very difficult. 

The Prime Minister went to lengths to justify this position, of continued constructive relations, and couched this in the transactional language that has been a hallmark of the Trump Presidency. There were no appeals to the “special relationship” or historic ties and friendship with the United States. Instead, Starmer set out in clear terms what the benefits of the relationship are, and why they remain important to maintain. 

Starmer also set out a rebuke to the President, and a defence of Greenland and European Allies 

This was not, however, a case of the UK folding in the face of blackmail from Washington. Starmer was unequivocal in his stance, stating that the future of Greenland “belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone”. He consistently called the President’s use of tariffs as a pressure mechanism “totally wrong”, in one of the strongest rebukes we’ve seen from the UK of President Trump’s actions. Even when it has come to disagreements over Ukraine, Prime Minister Starmer has been careful not to outright condemn President Trump’s actions, and this forthright critique therefore marks a notable shift in the UK’s willingness to stand up to President Trump. 

Despite criticising President Trump’s actions, the Prime Minister was clear that a solution must be found through dialogue. Starmer finds is himself having to carefully find a middle ground between the United States and Europe where increasingly strong rhetoric between the two sides risks bubbling over into a trade war.  

Starmer is attempting to stress the importance of international issues to his domestic agenda 

Amid reports over the past few months of discontent within the Labour ranks over the Prime Minister’s frequent trips abroad, Prime Minister Keir Starmer used the speech to try and draw clear links between his work on the international stage and his domestic agenda. This was a pitch, both to the public and his own party on why geopolitics matters to ordinary people un the UK.  

He pointed to the ways in which international instability affected peoples’ lives, highlighting how wars drive up energy costs, supply chain fractures damage small businesses and working people, and how instability most often affects working people the most. In this he is clearly trying to make the case that his work on the global stage is another side of the same coin to his commitments to deliver growth and reduce costs.  

This is an essential link that the government must make in order to get political buy-in for the proposed increases to defence spending over the next few years. As BFPG found last year, most Britons are not willing to accept cuts to other kinds of spending to fund defence increases. If the Government wants to deliver on 3.5% defence spending by 2035 then this link between the domestic and international will need to be made time and again.  

There are no clear answers to this crisis 

You might be forgiven for thinking this speech was a lot of words to say not all that much. The Prime Minister criticised President Trump but also went to great lengths to stress the importance of the UK-US relationship. He spoke in much softer terms than President Macron, and has made no clear commitments on what the UK will do next, if Trump does impose the planned tariffs or indeed attacked Greenland. Instead, he simply reaffirmed his commitment to keeping dialogue open, defending international law, and working with allies.  

But in truth the Prime Minister’s room for manoeuvre is limited. Perhaps the most important part of Starmer’s speech was his repeated focus on pragmatism. The UK is not in an easy position. Our economy remains deeply tied to the United States, and our defence and national security is critically reliant on collaboration with the United States. The United States also remains integral to the UK’s foreign policy priorities, not least in finding an end to the conflict in Ukraine and ensuring that the ceasefire in Gaza holds in the long term. Greenland is critically important but so too is American support on these other conflicts and global challenges. For Starmer then, it is a very difficult balancing act – supporting Greenland, Europe and standing up for international law and order, while not further alienating a clearly volatile yet critical partner in the United States. For now, at least, Starmer’s options are limited. Longer term there may be bigger questions to ask about how sustainable the proximity of the UK-US relationship is.