Trump and Starmer: America First, Britain last

After decades of decline, British capitalism is particularly vulnerable to the instability that Trump and his ‘America First’ programme bring. The new president will inflame the political turmoil, radicalisation, and polarisation taking place in Britain.

[Originally published at communist.red]

In regards to the global economy, it is often remarked that “when America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold”. And the same could be said of geopolitics and international relations.

With Trump and his MAGA team back in the White House, western leaders are certainly donning their proverbial facemasks, anxious about the contagion and fallout from the US President’s unpredictable policies.

For decades, from the postwar period onwards, a host of second- and third-rate powers rode on the coattails of US imperialism. Institutions and agreements like NATO and the WTO helped to uphold the liberal ‘rules-based order’, providing military security and free trade for America’s allies. And countries like Britain benefited from this arrangement, economically and politically, finding their place within the US-woven web of western imperialism.

Now, however, this imperialist tapestry is beginning to fray and unravel. Globalisation has been stalling for some time, and even going into reverse. And the shifting balance of forces between the major powers, including the relative decline of US imperialism, has caused many of the West’s traditional ‘friends’ to seek a more independent path on the world stage.

This process precedes Trump. At the same time, his (double) election is a symptom of it. And his actions, as chief of the biggest capitalist and imperialist force on the planet, are clearly fanning the flames, stoking greater turbulence and turmoil.

This has set alarm bells ringing in the corridors of power across the western world, with the threat of tariffs and annexations being casually thrown around by the returning US President. And Starmer and co. are deluded if they think the supposed ‘special relationship’ between Britain and America is going to save them from this chaos.

Cut adrift

After decades of degeneration and decay, British capitalism is particularly vulnerable to the instability that Trump and his ‘America First’ programme brings.

Inside the EU, Britain gained from its role as the USA’s Trojan Horse within the walls of the Single Market, acting as a bridgehead for American capital’s excursions into Europe. In this way, the UK became a global hub for financial and legal services, acting as the ‘butler to the world’.

Brexit upended this cosy affair: cutting Britain adrift from her largest trading partner – Europe – and making the diminished island nation even more economically reliant on the USA, whilst simultaneously reducing the UK’s importance to Washington.

This explains Starmer’s grovelling behaviour since Trump’s election victory last November.

The UK economy is already struggling, to say the least. And the imposition of protectionist tariffs on British exports would be another nail in the coffin.

With the markets already knocking at Britain’s door, demanding repayment of the country’s considerable debts, Starmer and his government desperately need a US-UK trade deal.

To achieve this, however, requires Britain’s political representatives to prostrate themselves in front of their capricious, orange-hued overlord; to bend over backwards to curry favour with the new boss on the other side of the Atlantic.

The result has been a string of embarrassments and humiliations for the occupants of Downing Street in recent weeks, with more no doubt set to come.

Balancing act

“Everybody’s nervous – because they simply don’t know what he is going to do.”

So said one anonymous government insider recently, talking to the BBC, commenting on the panic within Westminster about the prospects of this new Trump era.

Starmer’s top team are terrified about what US President Donald Trump could do next / Image: The Communist

The same article describes how a cabal of senior Labour ministers have formed a ‘secret mini-cabinet’ within the Cabinet, tasked with planning for the unpredictable future that lies ahead under Trump’s second presidency.

Starmer’s top team are like inexperienced parents, struggling to prepare for the volatile moods and physiology of a newborn child: fearful of a potential violent emotional outburst or volcanic eruption of excrement, and packing an extra change of clothes and fresh diapers when leaving the house, lest disaster strike at any moment.

As a backup to the US and its petulant president, therefore, the UK government is trying to strengthen other trade links.

This includes attempts to retain economic relations with China, despite American pressure to cut all Sino-Western ties, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves securing £600m-worth of agreements on a recent visit to Beijing.

And it involves attempts to move closer to Europe, with the Prime Minister recently pledging “renewed relations with our neighbours” on the continent and a “reset” with Brussels.

Importantly, in this same speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, Starmer emphasised that he “utterly rejects” the idea that Britain must choose between Trump’s US and the EU.

The result is a balancing act that would make any contortionist proud, with the Labour leaders trying to face in all directions at once.

Similarly, this week, Reeves jetted off to Davos for the billionaires’ jamboree otherwise known as the World Economic Forum, in order to rub shoulders with a host of CEOs, in the hope of persuading them to invest in Britain.

Yet despite these strenuous efforts, the outcome will not be a positive one for Starmer’s government.

To attract the foreign investment that British capitalism needs – whether it be American, Chinese, or otherwise – the country will have to open its doors wide open to multinational vultures and profiteering gangsters.

This means embarking on a race-to-the-bottom in terms of deregulation, privatisation, and asset-stripping: attacking workers’ pay and conditions; saying goodbye to health, safety, and environmental standards; and flogging off the family silver.

The selloffs and closures seen across UK industry in recent years – most notably with Tata Steel in Port Talbot and Chinese-owned British Steel in Scunthorpe – provide a glimpse of the future for workers.

The same can be seen from Starmer’s decision to publicly admonish one of his own ministers in October last year, in order to appease international investors – in particular, the Dubai owners of DP World, the parent company of “rogue operators” P&O Ferries, infamous for its overnight mass sacking of nearly one thousand workers in Britain back in 2022.

And no doubt private US healthcare firms will be eyeing up the NHS, hoping to carve it up as a source of juicy profits, not without staunch opposition from both users and unions.

Britain’s weakness in the global economy will therefore not only see it being crushed between the big imperialist powers, but will also contribute to heightened political tensions and class struggle at home.

And that is only the start of Starmer’s woes.

Carried away

The same process is playing out on the diplomatic front, with Starmer consistently finding himself in awkward, compromising positions in regards to foreign policy.

On the one hand, the Prime Minister is keen to prove his fealty – as a reliable lapdog of US imperialism – to his new master in Washington. On the other hand, as with any over-eager puppy, it seems that Starmer has a habit of getting a bit carried away and running ahead of himself.

Deluded Starmer seems to think Britain can lead the charge against Russia / Image: own work

Last year, it was his proud proclamation that Britain would send long-range missiles to Ukraine, to be used against Russia – a move that was quickly shot down by former president Joe Biden.

Now it is the tin-eared PM’s announcement that the UK will forge a ‘100-year partnership’ with Ukraine, providing Kyiv with money and military support “for as long as it takes”.

Trump is looking to wash America’s hands of this messy conflict, and is demanding that other NATO countries bear the burden for any further arms spending and aid to Ukraine. And the Labour leader has demonstrated the required Pavlovian response to the Oval Office’s call.

But whilst his European counterparts are coming to terms with the inevitable, that the West is staring at defeat in Ukraine, the ever-deluded Starmer seems to think that puny Britain can pick up the gauntlet and lead the charge against Russia.

Number 10’s quixotic knight was also put in his place recently when the incoming occupant of the White House decided to change his mind over the Chagos Islands.

Last October, the Labour government made a big song and dance about how it was ‘giving back’ this ‘British Indian Ocean Territory’. But the new Trump administration has told the UK to put the handover on hold, concerned that this deal may not be in America’s security interests.

In particular, US officials worry that, under the control of Mauritius, the continued presence of America’s military base on Diego Garcia – the largest of the Chagos islands – cannot be guaranteed; for example, were the archipelago’s latest proprietors to fall under China’s influence.

Once again, Starmer has been taught a clear lesson: the ‘special relationship’ is not a two-way affair. It is Washington that calls the shots.

Smiling through the muck

The fawning behaviour of the Labour leaders is nauseating.

Starmer and his sidekicks are like sycophantic courtiers, trying to gain the ear of a newly-crowned young king. Yet while their appeals and advice go unheard and unheeded, they allow themselves to be publicly humiliated by those in the President’s inner-circle.

‘Sir’ Starmer has made much of the mutual respect that exists between him and Trump. In his aforementioned speech at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, for example, the Prime Minister reminded his audience of the time that the US President “graciously hosted me for dinner in Trump Tower”.

At this meeting, Starmer supposedly pledged to “invest more deeply than ever in the transatlantic bond with our American friends in the years to come”.

Despite all this obsequious brown-nosing, however, the UK PM did not even receive an invitation to attend Trump’s latest inauguration! Meanwhile, such honourable ladies and gentlemen as Liz Truss, Suella Braverman, Boris Johnson, and Nigel Farage were all present and accounted for at the DC ceremony.

At the same time, Starmer has had to endure an embarrassing and destabilising barrage of mud-slinging from Elon Musk, Trump’s billionaire attack dog.

In recent weeks, the world’s richest man has suggested that the Labour leaders have enabled grooming gangs and sex crimes, and has even called on King Charles III to dissolve Parliament so that a new government can be formed. In turn, the Tesla boss has openly promoted Reform UK.

Labour mandarins – and no doubt MPs and voters too – must be fuming over this sorry spectacle. Yet Starmer and co. have had to just sit there and take all of this on the chin, smiling as they wipe off the muck that is being thrown at them from across the pond.

“Trump is going to say things that make Labour MPs mad,” says one US expert, speaking to the BBC. “Don’t brief that the PM is personally upset,” they advise. “Put your big nappy on and ignore it.”

Uncle Sam’s shockwaves

The 47th President of the United States, and those in his orbit, will therefore impart a grave gravitational effect upon British politics in the months and years ahead

Through their haywire decisions and actions, Trump’s administration will add to the polarisation and radicalisation in Britain and internationally.

Added to this political instability is the impact of Trump’s economic measures.

US tariffs and deficits are going to exacerbate inflationary pressures globally. This will likely force central bankers to keep interest rates elevated for longer.

Already, financial markets have responded to these risks by pushing up the yields on various government bonds – that is, increasing the borrowing costs of national debts, at a time when public finances are already strained.

Starmer’s government has felt the full force of this panic, with Chancellor Rachel Reeves having to reassure jittery investors that Britain, one way or another, will balance its books and pay back its debts. Labour is intent not to preside over another Truss-esque armageddon.

UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been talking up growth whilst trying to avoid a Truss-style economic collapse / Image: HM Treasury, Flickr

But this means a further assault on workers’ living standards and public services will be required.

Reeves is partially right when she says that this is not a uniquely British problem. Governments in France and Germany are similarly paralysed right now as a result of budgetary crises.

At the same time, it is clear that Britain is one of the weakest links in the chain of world capitalism. British capitalism is undergoing its own long-term ‘special crisis’, layered atop the general crisis in the global economy, as a result of decades of decline and neglect, with the capitalists failing to invest in industry, productivity, and modernisation.

Now the chickens are all coming home to roost, and the ruling class is paying the price for its myopic approach. Or rather, they are demanding that Starmer and his government present the working class in Britain with the bill.

Only six months in power, it is clear that the honeymoon period for Starmer’s Labour is well and truly over. In reality, it never existed at all.

Support for Labour has plummeted. The latest polls put the party almost neck-and-neck with Farage’s Reform. And that is before the next tsunami of austerity and upheaval hits Britain’s shores.

The stress on Starmer’s government is increasing on all sides. In the process, the Labour leaders are going to be ground between two massive millstones: between the demands of the markets for more cuts and attacks; and the counter-pressure from the working class, desperate for some respite and relief.

The stage is set for explosive developments in Britain, as events in America send shockwaves across the world. This will have revolutionary consequences, for which we must prepare.