UK Prime Minister Liz Truss calls for ‘even more special’ ties with US

Britain and the U.S. are still best mates, says the U.K.’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss.

“I do think our relationship is special, and it’s increasingly important at a time when we’re facing threats from Russia, increased assertiveness from China,” she said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Truss had been asked about her previous comments describing U.S.-U.K. ties as “special but not exclusive.” After World War II, former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill characterized the connection as a “special relationship,” a moniker that has stuck ever since.

“I’m personally a huge fan of the United States of America. It’s a country I’ve traveled a lot in. It’s a country we share so many values, core beliefs in,” Truss said. “I’m determined that we … make the special relationship even more special over the coming years.”

The prime minister met with President Biden on the sidelines of last week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York City. The duo discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and “challenges posed by China,” among other issues, according to the White House.

“For too long after the Cold War, the free world didn’t do enough to take on the challenges of autocratic regimes,” Truss said. “I really feel that we are stepping up as an alliance to take on what is absolutely … an appalling war created by [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”

Truss succeeded former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a fellow member of the Conservative Party, earlier this month.

With tensions heating up around Taiwan, the independent island territory China claims as its own, Truss said the U.K. and its allies need to “reduce our strategic dependency on China.”

“We are determined to work with our allies to make sure that Taiwan is able to defend itself,” she said, adding that a repeat of Putin-style aggression elsewhere in the world must be avoided.

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