President Joe Biden held the first of many meetings with world leaders scheduled across his weeklong European trip with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson Thursday, and both sides appeared to signal that the “special relationship” between the two countries that frayed during the Donald Trump era is on the rebound.
The two leaders and their respective wives, first lady Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson, met ahead of the bilateral talks at a seaside dock in Carbis Bay, just over a mile south of St. Ives, England.
“It’s gorgeous,” Biden said to the press pool. “I don’t want to go home.”
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Biden and Johnson proceeded to a viewing of the Atlantic Charter before sitting down for their bilateral discussions.
https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/1402999480048177155Before the press was ushered out of the room, Biden joked that he and Johnson shared one specific thing in common: They both “married way above our station.”
“I’m not going to disagree with the president on that or, indeed, anything else,” Johnson added. “I think it highly likely.”
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Upon his arrival in the United Kingdom on Wednesday, Biden spoke to U.S. service members and their families at Royal Air Force Mildenhall about the “special relationship” between the two countries.
“This diplomacy is essential because no single nation acting alone can meet all the challenges we face today because the world is changing. To quote another Irish poet, he said, ‘The world’s changed, changed utterly. A terrible beauty has been born,'” the president said. “We’re in a different place than we were 10 years ago — a better position but a different place. We have to build the shared future we seek: a future where nations are free from coercion or dominance by more powerful states, where the global commons, the seas, the air, the space, and space, remain open and accessible for the benefit of all.”
<mediadc-iframe data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1623338755717,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1623338755717,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07c3-d172-a563-4feb224a0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"iFrameEmbedCode":"","_id":"00000179-f66f-dda8-aff9-ff7f95440000","_type":"00000161-b425-d761-a563-f7e77e270000"}”>iFrame ObjectBiden’s stress on the partnership broke from his Democratic predecessor, former President Barack Obama, who frequently touted German Chancellor Angela Merkel as his closest European ally. Former President Donald Trump tried to refoster that bond, claiming in 2018 that his relationship with former Prime Minister Theresa May was “highest level of special.” Trump also closely aligned himself with Johnson on a number of issues.
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Later on Thursday, Biden is expected to announce America’s procurement and distribution of 500 million doses of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine, in partnership with the COVAX initiative. White House officials told the Washington Examiner that the announcement makes good on Biden’s February promise to supplement the country’s initial $2 billion COVAX pledge with a secondary investment.
