United Kingdom–United States relations
Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States have ranged from military opponents to close allies since 1776. The Thirteen Colonies seceded from the Kingdom of Great Britain and declared independence in 1776, fighting a successful revolutionary war. While Britain was fighting Napoleon, the two nations fought the stalemated War of 1812. Relations were generally positive thereafter, save for a short crisis in 1861 during the American Civil War. By the 1880s, the US economy had surpassed Britain; in the 1920s, New York City surpassed London as the world's leading financial center. The two nations fought Germany together during the two World Wars; since 1940, the two countries have been close military allies, enjoying the Special Relationship built as wartime allies and NATO partners.
America and Britain are bound together by a shared history, a common language, an overlap in religious beliefs and legal principles, and kinship ties that reach back hundreds of years. Today, large numbers of expatriates live in the other country.
In the early 21st century, Britain affirmed its relationship with the United States as its "most important bilateral partnership" in current British foreign policy,[1] and the American foreign policy also affirms its relationship with Britain as its most important relationship,[2][3] as evidenced in aligned political affairs, mutual cooperation in the areas of trade, commerce, finance, technology, academics, as well as the arts and sciences; the sharing of government and military intelligence, and joint combat operations and peacekeeping missions carried out between the United States Armed Forces and the British Armed Forces. As of January 2015, the United Kingdom was the fifth largest US trading partner in terms of exports and seventh in terms of import of goods.[4] In long-term perspective, the historian Paul Johnson has called the United Kingdom–United States relations "the cornerstone of the modern, democratic world order".[5]
The two countries also have had a significant impact on the cultures of many other countries, as well as each other. They are the two main nodes of the Anglosphere, with a combined population of just under 400 million in 2019. Together, they have given the English language a dominant lingua franca role in many aspects of the modern world.
Tourism[edit]
More than 4.5 million Britons visit the United States every year, spending $14 billion. Around 3 million people from the United States visit the United Kingdom every year, spending $10 billion.[266] With the worldwide pandemic of COVID-19, international tourism in both countries collapsed in 2020.
Transportation[edit]
All three major American airlines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and Delta Air Lines fly directly between the US and the UK, principally between London and New York, although all three fly to Heathrow Airport from a number of hubs, as well as to other major UK airports such as Manchester Airport, Edinburgh Airport and Glasgow Airport. Additionally, Delta codeshares with the UK's Virgin Atlantic which it owns a 49% stake in. Low-cost carriers JetBlue and Southwest Airlines fly between the eastern US and the British overseas territories of Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands, with JetBlue also flying between London and New York. The British flag carrier British Airways flies to over twenty destinations in the US. Also the main British charter airline, TUI Airways fly to the US although principally to the holiday destinations of Florida and California.
Both American Airlines and British Airways are founders of the airline alliance, known as Oneworld. BA, TUI Airways and Virgin Atlantic are major purchasers of American-made Boeing aircraft. Flying between the US and UK is at the moment in 2019 supported by the US-EU Open Skies Agreement which came about in 2008, which allows any airline from both countries to fly between each other.
John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City is the most popular international destination for people flying out of Heathrow Airport. Over 2.8 million people on multiple daily non-stop flights flew from Heathrow to JFK in 2008.[267] Concorde, British Airways flagship supersonic airliner, began trans-Atlantic service to Washington Dulles International Airport in the United States on May 24, 1976. The trans-Atlantic route between London's Heathrow and New York's JFK in under 3½ hours, had its first operational flight between the two hubs on October 19, 1977, and the last being on October 23, 2003.[268]
The two main American intercity bus carriers; Greyhound Lines and during the period from 1999 to 2019 Coach USA, plus their subsidiaries are each owned by a major British transportation company FirstGroup with Greyhound[269] and Stagecoach with Coach USA. Coach USA's budget brand Megabus which started in 2006, itself is a copycat of the British version of the discount coach company that started in 2003.[270]
John Adams, the first American Plenipotentiary Minister to Great Britain being presented at the Court of St James's to King George III in 1785, as depicted in John Cassell's Illustrated History of England, Volume 5, 1865
A visit to the tomb of George Washington at Mount Vernon by Edward, Prince of Wales, President James Buchanan, and other dignitaries in 1860, as depicted in an 1861 painting by American artist Thomas Prichard Rossiter
Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald and British Ambassador Esmé Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Penrith greeted at the United States Capitol in Washington by Vice President Charles Curtis, 1929
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, Queen Elizabeth, King George VI, President Franklin D. Roosevelt aboard the presidential yacht USS Potomac during Their Majesties state visit to Washington, 1939
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill aboard the USS Augusta after signing the Atlantic Charter, 1941
President Harry S. Truman and Prime Minister Winston Churchill shake hands during the Potsdam Conference, 1945
President Harry S. Truman and Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh in the presidential limousine en route to Blair House in Washington, 1951
Prime Minister Harold Macmillan and President Dwight D. Eisenhower meet for talks in Bermuda during the aftermath of the Suez Crisis, 1957
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh posing with President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy during a dinner held at Buckingham Palace for the visiting American delegation, 1961
President Richard Nixon and First Lady Pat Nixon with Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Edward Heath at Chequers, 1970
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, First Lady Nancy Reagan, Queen Elizabeth II and President Ronald Reagan aboard HMY Britannia, 1983
President Ronald Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan with Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales at the White House during the Waleses' official visit to the United States, 1985
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan in discussion during a walk at Camp David, 1986
President George H. W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at the beginning of an official dinner at the White House, 1991
President George H. W. Bush and Prime Minister John Major conducting a press conference at Camp David, 1992
President Bill Clinton and Prime Minister John Major give remarks during at press conference at 10 Downing Street, 1995
Prime Minister Tony Blair and President Bill Clinton in a meeting with US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger in Belfast, 1998
President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton and Chelsea Clinton with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace, 2000
President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush with Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at the White House during the Waleses' official visit to the United States, 2005
President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at the beginning of an official dinner at the White House, 2007
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and President George W. Bush having their first meeting at Camp David, 2007
Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama at a bilateral meeting during the G20 Summit in Toronto, 2010
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge at Buckingham Palace, 2011
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh at Windsor Castle, 2016
Prime Minister Theresa May and President Barack Obama having their first meeting during the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, 2016
Prime Minister Theresa May and President Donald Trump conducting a press conference in the East Room of the White House, 2017
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Donald Trump conducting a bilateral meeting in New York City, 2019
Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Joe Biden during a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, 2021
