THE sheer difference between the styles of leadership in various parts of the Western world has never been as stark in recent years.
Over in the US, an economy led by President Trump who, lest we forget only very recently returned for his second period in the White House, is leading the news agenda because of tariffs that have put a sledgehammer through the Establishment’s plans.
Across the border, the new Canadian Premier and former Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, is trying to get his political career up and running by happily waging a trade war with Trump.
Anyone with a modicum of common sense and appreciation that Carney, although having just got started, is already on his way out will know that there is only one winner in that battle, and it is certainly not the Establishment’s man.
On home shores we have Sir Keir Starmer, a man who seemingly cannot get to grips with any issue that blights the UK economy.
As the growth forecast continues to be revised downwards and GDP figures slide, he seems more interested in continuing to extend the war in Ukraine and pay lip service to the private sector despite failing to present any real hope for businesses across the country.
With political inaction and neglect of the economy, it is perhaps inevitable that Western leaders such as Starmer and Carney would blame their own economic incompetence on the ‘big bad wolf in the White House’.
These accusations, however, are nothing more than passing the buck for decades of failures which have nothing to do with Donald Trump. The fact remains that the President has returned to power and is willing to do something different, something that no Western leader has done in recent years, and that is put his own country first.
The tariffs are negotiating bludgeons which are part of Trump’s overall economic vision but don’t necessarily have to lead to an international trade war.
Granted, they will protect US economic interests across major industries such as manufacturing, but they are part of a longer-term strategy which should see cross-border cooperation and, at the end, benefit countries such as the UK and Canada if they are willing.
Fundamentally, Trump wants to do a deal with the UK. The man who wrote The Art of the Deal is on the international stage to be a leader, but he understands the complexities of ensuring that his own country is looked after first.
Frankly, if Rachel Reeves and others understood this, they would be on the first plane to Washington Dulles International Airport, flying down Pennsylvania Avenue and into the Oval Office ready to work out a mutually agreeable deal which benefits everyone.
Unfortunately, the ideologues in the British government will not allow this. They would rather be seen to be on an economic war footing with the US President to appease left-wing voters and the Establishment than actively engage with his decision-making.
This is no way to treat what is supposed to be a negotiation and it will invariably cause chaos for British businesses and the economy.
The UK has for too long had a victim mentality when it comes to its own economic prospects. Trump’s tariffs are the latest excuse being peddled out by the government to steer the nation’s gaze off them and towards someone else.
Trump is an Anglophile at heart and is aware of the benefits that economic cooperation can have for both countries. However, until Starmer decides he is better placed siding with the special relationship rather than the European Union, this looks like nothing more than a pipe dream.
