America's Closest Ally Is Cozying Up to Republicans

On March 13, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed a trade agreement between his state and the United Kingdom in London, making him the sixth Republican governor to have made such a deal with the British.

Abbott and U.K. Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch both approved a "statement of mutual cooperation," which the governor said would "promote economic growth on both sides of the Atlantic."

Britain has been seeking a free trade deal with the United States since leaving the European Union (EU) in January 2020, but negotiations with the Biden administration became bogged down amid disagreement in both London and Washington. Instead, the U.K. Conservative government has been targeting trade agreements with individual states, predominantly those governed by Republicans, with eight deals approved so far.

The eight states that have approved agreements with the U.K. so far are Indiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Utah, Washington, Florida and Texas. Of these only North Carolina and Washington have Democratic governors, highlighting the shared interests between Republicans and Britain's governing Conservative Party.

Speaking after signing the agreement with Britain, Abbott said: "Understand that this is far more than a document. What we signed our names to today is a pathway to increased prosperity."

Badenoch said: "Today's signature with Texas marks the U.K.'s eighth U.S. state-level pact, meaning U.K. firms now have access to states with a combined GDP [gross domestic product] of £5.3 trillion, equivalent to a quarter of the whole U.S. economy." She added: "This shows our U.S. state-level strategy is working and really delivering for British businesses."

A 2021 YouGov/Economist poll found 32 percent of American adults consider the U.K. to be the U.S.'s closest ally, higher than any other country, with the opinion shared near evenly between Democrats and Republicans. By contrast, 16 percent of Americans chose Canada as the closest U.S. ally and 10 percent Israel, though these results varied significantly more by party affiliation.

The U.K. has been suffering with weak economic growth since the COVID-19 pandemic ended, with the International Monetary Fund estimating growth of around 0.6 percent in 2024 against more than 2 percent for the U.S.

Britain, and other major European economies, took a big hit when the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 caused energy prices to spike dramatically.

Attempts to agree a new trade deal between the U.K. and U.S. have also been complicated by Northern Ireland and fears of a hard border with the Republic of Ireland.

In September 2020, then-presidential candidate Biden commented: "We can't allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit.

"Any trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period," Biden added.

In early 2020, then-President Donald Trump said he would agree a "far bigger and more lucrative" trade deal with the U.K. than it had enjoyed as an EU member. However, this had failed to materialize by the time he left office in January 2021.