The truth is finally dawning on Britain: toadying to Trump has got us nowhere | Emma Brockes

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

53% : For now, at least, belligerence seems to be getting the better results with Trump, at least for those negotiators who have something he wants.
50% : The fact is that Apple, Target and Walmart all have greater leverage over Trump than the UK does, which is why watching this latest episode of the special relationship unfold brings on, at least in British viewers, feelings of something like pathos.
42% : (One thing I'll say for the royals is that their use of passive-aggressive semiotics in the invitation are absolutely world class: Balmoral is a mid-list palace that, while superior to Blenheim, which Trump visited in 2018 and is basically an off-site for corporate events these days, is decidedly not Buckingham Palace - a subtlety we must assume the king and his cohorts are thoroughly enjoying and Trump has no idea about whatsoever.)
41% : Instead Trump officials have told Columbia its concessions only represent the "first step".)
38% : We really do believe we can talk our way out of anything, even when dealing with someone as capricious as Trump - a man for whom no amount of appeasement will hold longer than his mood.
38% : The choice of Balmoral for Trump's summer visit will rest in part on the fact that it's harder for demonstrators bearing helium-filled balloons in the shape of Trump-as-a-baby to reach.
35% : But the news that President Trump has probably stiffed the UK into a second- or third-tier boarding group for trade talks, behind South Korea and Japan, triggers at least a snort of recognition for anyone who has experienced versions of that dynamic.
34% : And now the UK finds itself in a similar pickle to Columbia, with any goodwill generated by King Charles's letter inviting Trump to Balmoral apparently thrown up in the air.
30% : Trump has blinked repeatedly when faced with the negative consequences of his own erratic behaviour, be that from tech companies forcing him to exempt them from tariffs or business leaders persuading him, in the wake of his commitment to putting 145% tariffs on Chinese goods, to wobble and admit they're not sustainable.
22% : Nothing Trump does seems strategic, but it seems both a calculated humiliation and a warning shot to steer clear of Europe to push the UK down the running order of trade talks.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.