UK’s Johnson: Bond with US won’t change under Biden presidency

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that he would work alongside President-elect Joe Biden to accomplish the shared goals of each country.

“The United States is our closest and most important ally. And that’s been the case under president after president, prime minister after prime minister. It won’t change,” said Johnson in an interview with the Associated Press.

Johnson has often been praised by President Trump who in turn has championed Trump’s handling of the U.S. economy. Biden has compared Johnson to a “clone” of Trump and has spoken disapprovingly of Brexit.

The vote to leave the European Union (EU) was strongly backed by Johnson. Both Brexit and Trump’s election were seen as two events that reflected a rise in populism.

Johnson and Biden do share some views such as fighting climate change. The U.S. recently completed its exit from the Paris Climate Agreement during the Trump administration. Biden has said that he will rejoin the accord immediately after he becomes president.

Johnson, the AP reported, aims to reduce the U.K.’s carbon emissions to net zero by 2050.

“I think now with President Biden in the White House in Washington, we have the real prospect of American global leadership in tackling climate change,” Johnson said.

As the AP reports, Britain hopes to secure a trade agreement with the U.S. now that it has officially left the EU, but a new presidency may stall those plans further. Uncertainties about U.S – U.K. trade call into question the economic relationship Britain will have with the EU going forward.

“We have common values. We have common interests. We have a common global perspective,” Johnson said. “There’s a huge amount of work we need to do together to protect those values: a belief in democracy, in free speech around the world, in human rights, in free trade, in the rules-based international order.”