If Liz Truss becomes Prime Minister on September 5, she will bring some useless baggage to the front table on the international stage at a difficult time. Challenges will come thick and fast. From the war in Ukraine, the global energy crisis and urgent calls for more and deeper action on the climate crisis, the world is looking to the major economies, one of which remains Britain. Within weeks of her arrival in Downing Street, Truss will address the UN general assembly in New York and then travel to Bali in November for a meeting of the world’s top 20 economies, the G20. From Brussels and Beijing to Canberra and Kyiv, Washington and Tokyo to Paris and Moscow, see how the world’s major capitals view the front-runner to succeed Boris Johnson.
US
The Biden administration is well aware that Liz Truss is no ideological stickler and that she has carefully cultivated her relationship with Republicans, but on US foreign policy priorities, confronting and containing China and Russia, there is confidence in Washington that she will be a reliable ally. . Liz Truss with Joe Biden attending a reception at the Cop26 summit last November. Photo: Newspix International The multinational effort to arm Ukraine and Aukus, the trilateral security pact in the Pacific that also includes Australia, have become the main testing ground for the transatlantic alliance. The UK is second only to the US as an arms supplier to Ukraine, and the administration hopes that support will be maintained and even strengthened under Truss. Her firm line on Taiwan and her vocal support for this month’s visit there by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were also praised. The friction in the supposed special relationship will remain Brexit and its impact on Ireland’s Good Friday deal, and on that issue there are fears in Washington that things will get worse under Truss, who particularly angered the White House with the announcement on May 17 that the government would move forward with legislation on the Northern Ireland Protocol, which would rewrite parts of the Brexit divorce agreement in a way that is considered to be in breach of international law. Management had been told no decision had been made on the legislation and felt blindsided. There will be strong US pressure on a Truss government to compromise with the EU.
European Union
Liz Truss arrives for an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers at the European Council building in Brussels in March. Photo: Olivier Matthys/AP There is no shortage of cynicism in Brussels. The need for political positioning before a leadership campaign is well understood. Liz Truss’ confrontational stance on the future of Northern Ireland’s protocol came as Boris Johnson’s No 10 position began to look vulnerable. Her belligerent position plays well with those in the party who believe that a loud voice is the best way to communicate with inflexible Europeans who seem not to understand. If it’s a short-term tactic, the logic goes, then maybe Truss will soften up once in Downing Street. Truss, after all, appeared to take a more pragmatic approach than David Frost when she first inherited responsibility for the post-Brexit problems. The Northern Ireland bill that rips up current deals will be debated for months in the Lords, offering time for a compromise. But this is the optimistic analysis. Those who fear only further discord point to the suggestion that Frost, who has not always been willing to compromise, is to take a prominent role in the Truss government. As an omen, it is not considered good. A crucial point comes on September 15, when the government will have to respond to EU legal action over its alleged failure to implement the protocol.
France
Until last week, Liz Truss was best known in Paris as the main proponent of the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill. Her comments on Thursday that “the jury is still out” on whether French President Emmanuel Macron is “friend or foe” have focused minds rather sharply. Cross-Channel relations have hit rock bottom since Brexit and have been further strained by bilateral disputes over migrant and refugee crossings, fishing licenses and the Aukus security pact. Paris no longer trusts London to keep its word, while London believes Paris is only interested in punishing it for leaving the EU. Hopes for a thaw after Boris Johnson’s departure now look hopeless. Macron rebuked Truss without naming her, saying the UK was a friendly nation to France “regardless of, and sometimes despite, its leaders and their little mistakes”. Nathalie Loiseau, a former Europe minister, said Truss’s comments showed neither the leadership nor the tact expected of a British prime minister, while Sylvie Bermann, the former French ambassador in London, said Truss should be judged by the her actions, but “her positions make it likely” that relations will deteriorate.
Ukraine
Liz Truss would tick almost all the boxes for Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government when it comes to an ideal successor to Boris Johnson. Describing herself as a “freedom fighter”, she has vowed that Ukraine’s president will be the first foreign leader to invite from Downing Street. Liz Truss greets Volodymyr Zelensky at Cop26 last November The foreign secretary has arguably, however, fallen into the trap that even Johnson had suggested was unwise, of being “more Ukrainian than Ukrainians”. The public position of Ukrainian officials involved in the previous failed peace talks with Moscow was that Russian troops should be withdrawn to their positions by 23 February. But Truss also went somewhat further by insisting that Russia should be kicked out of Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014. That would clearly be the dream scenario for Kyiv, but few in the Ukrainian government believe it is realistic. Putting it as a red line risks throwing the baby out with the bath water. If Kyiv was pressed to list further concerns, it would be the Truce’s strained relations with European governments over its insistence on scrapping a treaty-level deal with the EU on border arrangements for Northern Ireland. He may therefore not be as effective an ally should he need to persuade EU leaders to be tougher on the Kremlin.
Russia
The Kremlin has carefully avoided any public statements about its preference in the Conservative leadership race, although its dislike of Truss is barely veiled. “Taking into account all previous statements, we naturally hope that the future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom will tend to a more balanced rhetoric about our country after taking this position,” said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for Vladimir Putin. Liz Truss in Moscow arrives for a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in February. Photo: Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs/EPA brochure But Russian propaganda has made its contempt for Truss clear, portraying her as a dyed-in-the-wool Russophobe, whom one presenter described as a “bad Margaret Thatcher imitation”. Almost a month after Kate McCann fainted during a televised debate, state TV presenters continued to mock Truss’s shocked reaction, saying you could call it a lost face… Crown subjects will have to live with it. Both Truss and Rishi Sunak have made it clear that the election will have little effect on the UK’s policy towards Russia or its invasion of Ukraine. However, Truss has a history with Russia, most notably during a frosty meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov just weeks before the war in Ukraine began. Lavrov described the conversation between “dumb and deaf”. He is unlikely to receive a warmer welcome than Putin as prime minister.
China
It’s no secret that Beijing is not a fan of Truss. Since becoming foreign minister, the state-run Chinese press has called her a “radical populist” and described her speeches about China as “insane.” Beijing would certainly prefer a prime minister who is practical in dealing with China – even if it knows there is no prospect of a return to a “golden age” of bilateral relations. In the Chinese press, descriptions of Truce as hawkish and irrational were commonplace. Last week, much attention was paid to Truss’ remark at an event in Birmingham that she would be prepared to use the UK’s nuclear arsenal if she became prime minister, even if it meant “global annihilation”. However, Chinese officials were cautious about making direct remarks. Earlier this month, Zheng Zeguang, China’s ambassador to the UK, said his government would work with “whoever becomes the new prime minister to develop the China-UK relationship”.
Australia
Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell said the Australian Government would welcome the nomination of the Trust, praising its role in promoting the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement. “He was the driving force behind the Australia-UK free trade agreement. The process has stalled a bit on the UK side, but we look forward to working with her if she becomes the new prime minister,” Farrell told Guardian Australia. Scott Morrison’s former Coalition government had a cordial relationship with Truss, with one former MP describing her as a strong supporter of the bilateral relationship. But as trade secretary she managed to blindside former trade secretary Dan Tehan when her allies launched an unprovoked attack on him ahead of a key meeting in London, saying he would be forced to sit in an “uncomfortable chair” for nine hours during their negotiations. . The former prime minister…
