Why Donald Trump in not as pro-British as Nigel Farage suggests - Helen Ryan

Ahead of the anticipated meeting of Prime Minister Andy Burnham and President Donald Trump, MP and leader of Reform UK Nigel Farage was eager to weigh in. He spoke out with advice for Burnham, stating, “It's very, very simple. We have an American president who, whilst his country may have some some different interests to ours, he is himself instinctively very pro-British. That's a head start."

But is Trump really ‘very pro-British’? In recent months, Trump has made numerous comments against Britain, criticising the state of the UK as well as their leaders and political decisions.

While five years ago, over 50 per cent of Americans saw Britain as the US’s most valuable ally, that number has now shrunk to 30 per cent according to polling conducted by Emerson College. Trump’s ‘personal friendship’ with the King and familial appreciation for the UK coming from his mother’s Scottish heritage can only go so far. If Trump’s actions and attitudes were truly instinctively in favor of Britain, there would be a much different outlook by the American people.

Most Americans aren’t even aware of what is going on in Britain. Recent polling data by Ipsos in partnership with Goalhanger’s The Rest is Politics between 10–14 July 2026 reveals that three in five Americans surveyed said they were tuned out of British news entirely.

Meanwhile, what they are hearing about the UK is largely negative, according to the same polling. Trump’s recent rhetoric regarding Britain hasn’t been focused on nurturing the alliance or bringing the two countries closer together; instead many of his recent comments have criticised Britain and are beginning to strain what was once known as a ‘special relationship’ between the US and the UK.

Just earlier this month, Trump told the UK, “Your country's in trouble. You're on the edge of disaster." Trump specifically attacked the UK’s ‘immigration problem’ and energy policies, due to the shift away from fossil fuels. The US President has often called for Britain to use its North Sea oil and gas reserves, encouraging the UK to stray from the clean energy initiatives Labour has been focused on.

Even dating back to 2019, Trump has often had negative things to say about the United Kingdom. He tweeted: “I have been very critical about the way the UK and Prime Minister Theresa May handled Brexit. What a mess she and her representatives have created. I told her how it should be done, but she decided to go another way.”

Trump consistently takes stances not in support of the British, but in support of his own agendas. It’s hard to call him pro-Britain when his support is highly conditional and focused entirely on his own power and America’s standing. As Trump’s views diverge from those of UK leaders, UK-US relations are deteriorating. He continuously criticised the previous PM, Sir Keir Starmer, and his choice not to drill in the North Sea, noting that he gave Starmer some “pretty good advice” and denouncing him for not following it. “The UK is dying,” he said – a highly damaging comment, especially coming from the leader of what is meant to be Britain’s close ally.

Many note that Trump’s uptick in criticism for the UK may relate to the lack of support for US efforts in Iran. When Starmer broke away from Trump on his views on Iran, the President said “This is not Winston Churchill we’re dealing with,” which former BBC editor Jon Sopel called “an oxygen denying blow straight to the solar plexus.”

It makes sense for leaders of these countries to disagree over major issues, such as the war in Iran. It’s natural for foreign policy matters to lead to diverging paths even in such a ‘special relationship.’ But Trump’s response is not one that supports diplomacy or gives the appropriate room for Britain to stand on its own rather than give in to every view of the President.

His recent call for a united Ireland, for one, does not scream ‘pro-British’ by any means. George Washington University professor Matthew Dallek argues that it was “payback for what he [Trump] perceives as a failure to support the United States in the Iran war…It’s a way of sticking his thumb in the eye of England.”

Trump is adding fuel to the anti-British fire being stoked in the US. The Telegraph reports that, according to polling, only 14 per cent see Britain as the “most attractive country for American business investment,” falling behind China at 32 per cent, and even Canada, who the US is in the midst of a trade war with, at 33 per cent.

Alicia Kearns, the shadow national security minister, says that US confidence in Britain has been shaken and there is “no chance of this changing with Burnham declaring social security more important than national security. America will be laughing at us.”

Once again, like Starmer on Iran, Burnham is at a crossroads: choosing to hold his ground and back his own stances on issues such as energy and defence, or take the ‘good advice’ of the President. It may not be as easy of a path as Farage said.

Helen Ryan is a research and operations assistant at the Bright Blue think tank.