Experts explain key to continuing alliance with United States under Donald Trump

The UK can continue and even strengthen the "special relationship" with Donald Trump's America but must accept that there has been "a decisive shift" in US policy and look for ways to work with the President, diplomatic experts say. Failure to adapt to the new reality "risks diminishing the UK's status as a primary US ally in favour of more compliant partners", according to a paper published by the Henry Jackson Society.

But getting it right could open the door for the UK to agree a trade deal with the US or even to join a free trade zone involving America, Mexico and Canada, which Mr Trump helped create during his first term as President and which still exists despite the President's tariffs. A report by Darren Spinck, an Associate Research Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society, calls on the UK to increase defence spending, work with Mr Trump on post-war arrangements in Ukraine and co-ordinate efforts to deal with China.

It argues that the UK "can position itself as a key transatlantic partner in countering China's influence, securing transit corridors and natural resource supply chains and advancing defence technology collaboration".

But failure to work with Mr Trump could mean the US reduces security co-operation with the UK and locks British businesses out of US markets.

A key difference between the two countries is that the US is now more concerned about the threat from China while the UK focuses on European security.

The report said: "A second Trump term offers the UK both opportunity and peril. Success in maintaining the 'Special Relationship' requires swift recalibration of UK policies to align with US priorities, particularly on defence, trade and China.

"Failure to do so risks diminishing the UK's status as a primary US ally in favour of more compliant partners. Strategic alignment, framed around shared security and economic interests rather than political ideology, will be the key to preserving the strength and relevance of the US-UK alliance."