UK PM in Washington to meet Biden and talk tech, Ukraine

In a White House conference on Thursday, Sunak will meet with President Joe Biden to express his unwavering support for Ukraine following accusations that Russia destroyed a significant dam to forestall an apparent counteroffensive.

UK PM in Washington to meet Biden: According to Sunak, any deliberate attack on the Kakhovka dam would be “the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war, and just would demonstrate the new lows that we would have seen from Russian aggression,” he told reporters as he boarded his flight from London.

However, although the United States and Britain are getting closer to supporting Ukraine with air power and taking a tough stance towards China, Sunak will have a harder time convincing Biden of the UK’s global role after Brexit.

Advisor to the Downing Street task team Matt Clifford stressed the necessity for a concerted response to AI, stating that there was a “not zero” risk that the world would end due to fast-learning systems in the next two years.

In a TalkTV interview, he declared that “global regulation of them is necessary because, in my opinion, national regulation is not enough.”

Sources claim Sunak wants a future global AI regulator established in London because the country has the necessary knowledge and a sizable tech industry.

However, it is a steep uphill battle as the United States directly engages the European Union in conversation on AI regulation, building on a commitment made by Sunak and other G7 leaders in Japan last month.

And Sunak has given up on negotiating a post-Brexit trade agreement with the Biden administration as soon as he meets with US business leaders before Thursday’s conference.

Combative advantage

“US investments totaling more than £14 billion ($17 billion) in Britain were announced by the prime minister en route to Washington, although some of the money has already been used.”

Sunak emphasized that Western democracy should use the US-UK military alliance at the center of NATO to safeguard it.

“By combining our vast economic resources and expertise, we will grow our economies, create jobs, and keep our people safe long into the future,” declared the prime minister, a wealthy former banker who studied in the United States and still owns property in California.

“More economic interoperability will give us a crucial edge in the decades ahead, just as interoperability between our militaries has given us a battlefield advantage over our adversaries.”

As a result of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which provided significant subsidies to US businesses, Sunak is advocating for US aid for UK automakers through increased access to vital minerals used in electric batteries.

As the Western alliance searches for a new secretary-general at a summit in Lithuania next month, Sunak has praised Defence Secretary Ben Wallace on the NATO front.

According to John Kirby, spokesman for the US National Security Council, “I have absolutely zero doubt that the war in Ukraine will be a prime issue of discussion” at the summit on Thursday.

“And the Brits have been right there — literally at the fore in helping Ukraine,” he continued.

“I do not doubt they’ll discuss how we can cooperate moving forward.”

Not a home run

Sunak will lay a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington on Wednesday before going to Capitol Hill to meet with congressional leaders.

The next day, the second annual “UK-US Friendship Day,” he will watch the Washington Nationals play the Arizona Diamondbacks to commemorate 238 years of diplomatic relations.

But Sunak, an avid cricket player, declined the chance to toss the opening pitch at the baseball game to save face in front of tens of thousands of spectators.

After transatlantic conflicts over trade and Northern Ireland, Sunak hopes to get along with Biden better than his unpopular predecessors, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson.

Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the US and Americas Programme at the Chatham House think tank in London, stated that the relationship was “very strong on the fundamentals: defense, security, and developing policy on China.”

But as we enter a crucial election year, Biden is unlikely to divulge much on details like AI and trade; she told AFP.