In March 2020 with President Trump in the White House, a newly elected UK Government was thrown into a global once-in-a-generation crisis. Then, the world united over our common enemy (Covid-19). Humanity came together, scientists worked in the common interest, we innovated, and pushed the boundaries of science. Together we came through it.
Five years on and with Trump once again in office, things couldn’t be more different.
As another once-in-a-generation crisis unfolds, this one wasn’t manufactured in a Chinese laboratory or wet market, this one was made in the USA and beamed straight from the White House Rose Garden onto our screens as prime time TV.
In one speech, the global marketplace has been reshaped and we move from an era of collaboration to one where unilateral decision-making, hardball negotiation, power plays and right-wing playbooks reshape the rules.
The old certainties are crumbling. Longstanding alliances are being tested. Institutions that once underpinned global stability now feel shaky. A new world order is emerging. One in which trade wars are the new geopolitical battlegrounds, and where tariffs, sanctions, and supply chain disruptions are turning global commerce into a high-stakes chess game.
Change, the slogan that shaped the UK election last year now feels somewhat prophetic. Over the last three months, the pace of change hasn’t just been fast — it’s been relentless.
How do we as a country, as sectors and as individual businesses turn this moment of change into an opportunity? How do we stay level-headed when emotions are running high?
How do you plan in a world where yesterday’s friend might be tomorrow’s rival? Where markets can disappear overnight, or become politicised beyond recognition? The UK Government wants to deliver growth, but as the world economy crashes around us, this looks like an increasingly impossible dream.
Our strengths are significant, the 6th largest economy in the world, a stable Government, a people that respect the rule of law, a global financial centre offering a safe place to invest and a democratic system that has been put to the test and survived.
But we are isolated from our European neighbours, the special relationship is in tatters, and our friendships are about to be put to the test.
The challenge for business and for the Government is immense, steering the country through the turmoil of the next few years wasn’t on anybody’s to-do list, but it is the job at hand. Let’s keep cool heads, our friends close and our spirits high.
We can no longer rely on the US for sanity or security. Britain needs to find its place in the new world order, fast.
