After years of tension with the previous Conservative government over human rights and security concerns, Reeves has political space to take a different, more business-like approach to Beijing and try and tap China’s vast market for economic benefits.
“Everything the Tories did on foreign policy was about backbench management,” said a U.K. government official, who, like others in this article, was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “We got to a position where we were the G7 country with the worst relationship with China.”
Reeves’ mission has become more desperate as the U.K. economy continues to falter, with borrowing costs this week reaching 1998 levels and the pound tanking, threatening the government’s pledge to generate growth and make Britons wealthier. That’s prompted some grumbling back home as opposition parties urge Reeves to pull the trip altogether.
But it’s Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House, and his virulent dislike of China, that creates the most peril, with Britain keen to avoid angering its biggest single trading partner.
With Trump’s right-hand man and tech billionaire Elon Musk seemingly charting the daily course of British politics via posts on his social media platform, X, Reeves risks triggering another pile-on.
“China is a growing and important partner, but the U.S. is way more important and we’ve now got someone who’s incredibly hostile to China coming into the White House,” said a bank lobbyist.
