Past US presidents could historically be relied on by allies to stand up for democracy and multilateral institutions (in words at least, if not always in deed). Countries expecting the same from Donald Trump’s administration have had a rocky four years.
At 12pm US eastern time on Jan. 20, Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States. He comes to power amid multiple crises, including a pandemic, the possible impeachment of his predecessor in the Senate, and the aftermath of the siege of the Capitol.
On Dec. 30. the EU and China agreed in principle on a deal that will govern their bilateral investment going forward.
Barack Obama billed himself as the “the first Pacific president,” and between 2008 and 2016 pursued a vision for the US to take a leading role in Asia. In 2018, France called for a “Paris-Delhi-Canberra axis.” Last year, Germany launched its own Indo-Pacific strategy.
It’s a miracle of modern medicine that scientists were able to develop multiple successful vaccines against Covid-19, a disease that wasn’t even on their radar a year ago. But so far, the global effort to roll out these vaccines and distribute them to vulnerable people is off to a slow start.
The US Congress certified Joe Biden as 46th president of the United States overnight, after a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building and some Republican lawmakers tried to overturn Pennsylvania and Arizona’s electoral counts.
Supporters of US president Donald Trump clashed with police and overran the Capitol building in Washington today in a chaotic scene that resulted in at least one person being shot.
On the morning of Dec. 27, in a suburban hospital north east of Paris, 78-year-old Mauricette (links in French) became the first person in France to receive a vaccine against Covid-19, developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Mauricette, whose last name is not known, is a retired housekeeper and lives in a long-term care facility due to chronic health problems. After receiving her jab in front of healthcare staff and reporters, she said she was thrilled to become “famous.”
The European economy will likely contract by 7% this year—its largest dip since World War II. That’s due to months of lockdowns imposed by governments eager to stop the spread of a virus that has killed close to 376,000 people in Europe in the last year.
European leaders reached a compromise with China on an investment agreement nearly a decade in the making, two days before the new year—the EU’s self-imposed deadline.
When Boris Johnson and his Vote Leave allies launched their vision for a post-Brexit “Global Britain,” the UK pinned its hopes for geopolitical relevance in large part on deepening ties with Asia, and especially China. Four years later, Britain has become a hub for the West’s growing skepticism of China, and Covid-19 was the match that lit the fuse.
On Dec. 21, after months of partisan wrangling (paywall), the US Congress finally passed a $900 billion Covid-19 economic relief bill that will provide Americans with a one-time $600 check and raise or extend much-needed unemployment, rental, and small business assistance programs.
Paris city hall will pay €90,000 ($110,000) for not respecting gender quotas in 2018—but unusually this time, it’s because it put too many women in leadership positions.
In 2019, Alex Agius Saliba was running for a seat in the European Parliament. As he drove around his native country of Malta, knocking on doors, and speaking to people about their problems, he noticed a trend: families overwhelmed with responsibilities; fathers replying to emails in the evenings; mothers feeling stressed and exhausted; children feeling neglected. The trouble, he felt, was that the line between work and life had become blurred.
The UK became the first country today (Dec. 8) to use Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine to inoculate people against Covid-19.
Relations between their two countries may be at a low point but British businesses in China are feeling optimistic.
The UK today (Dec. 2) approved a Covid-19 vaccine, known as BNT162b2, and developed by US drugmaker Pfizer and German firm BioNTech, for emergency use in the general public, making it the first western country to do so.
The UK is well on its way to ridding its telecommunications networks of equipment made by Chinese vendor Huawei, which it believes to be a national security risk. That was the—relatively—easy part. The hard part is what comes next: Finding an alternative. But looking at the release yesterday (Nov. 30) of a highly-anticipated strategy for vendor diversification, the UK government is coming up short.
The British government will ban the installation of new Huawei gear in UK telecommunications networks by September of 2021—far sooner than expected—in a move designed to appease rebels from prime minister Boris Johnson’s own Conservative party in Parliament.
The UK broke up with Huawei four months ago but the Chinese tech giant is asking for another chance. The rules of break-ups say London should stick to its guns; but will the new guy, US president-elect Joe Biden, change the way it feels?
The UK economy grew at a slower-than-expected pace in September, according to official data posted yesterday (Nov. 12). GDP grew by 1.1% in September from August, below the levels seen in other EU countries (paywall) like France and Germany.
The UK government has put forward a proposal that would give it sweeping new powers to review and block mergers and acquisitions from foreign investors if those are believed to compromise national security.
Every four or eight years the US elects a new president who holds a different view of the transatlantic relationship than his predecessor—and the countries of Europe have to adjust.
This story has been updated to reflect China’s Nov. 13 congratulating of US president-elect Joe Biden.
