House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) delivered a historic speech to the British Parliament on Tuesday, seeking to smooth over tense relations with one of the United States’s longest-standing allies.
Johnson reassured the body that the two countries will continue to “face and overcome together the challenges of our present day,” with his words coming at a pivotal time in U.S.-U.K. relations. Hours before Johnson’s remarks, President Donald Trump railed against London for ceding control of an island holding a U.S. military base. And the president announced last week Britain would be among NATO allies slapped with a 10% tariff if it continues to oppose a U.S. takeover of Greenland.
“I spoke to President Trump at length yesterday, and I told him that I really felt that my mission here today was to encourage our friends and help to calm the waters, so to speak,” Johnson said. “We’ve always been able to work through our differences calmly as friends. We will continue to do that. I want to assure you this morning that that is still the case.”
The speaker sought to alleviate concerns that the U.S. has discarded its traditional regard for alliances, telling members of parliament that Trump’s “America First” agenda does not mean “America alone.” His words reiterate Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s message this week in Davos, where Trump is also headed for Switzerland’s World Economic Forum. And it pushes against a more isolationist-leaning iteration of MAGA represented by former Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and others, who have pressed the White House to take an “America Only” approach.
Johnson’s address to Parliament made him the first sitting speaker to address the body, and marked 250 years of American independence from rule by London, which he described as “the spiritual birthplace of our own nation.”
The speaker pointed to “how our nations have evolved and grown and strengthened in so many ways together” as hope that U.S.-U.K. relations can survive the upheaval of the current era, referencing Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Johnson praised British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whom he met on Monday, for his stance on the Greenland debate, saying that London struck “exactly the right message and the right tone” in its push to dial back tensions with the U.S.
“Let us look to agreement, continue our dialogue and find a resolution, just as we always have in the past,” Johnson said. “And in that process, I am confident that we can and will maintain and strengthen our special relationship between these two nations.”
Whether the U.S. is able to come to a solution on Greenland with Great Britain and other NATO allies remains to be seen. The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, this week is viewed as a pivotal time, as it will provide a platform for Trump to hash out differences with Starmer and other allies on bringing Denmark’s territory under U.S. control.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, Trump attempted to further justify his push to take over Greenland by pointing to the U.K.’s recent move to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, including an island with an important U.S.-UK air base.
“The UK giving away extremely important land is an act of GREAT STUPIDITY, and is another in a very long line of National Security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired,” the president wrote in a post to Truth Social. “Denmark and its European Allies have to DO THE RIGHT THING.”
The Trump administration initially approved the deal when it was reached last May. Under the agreement, the U.K. gave the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius but retained control of the joint U.S.-U.K. Diego Garcia base under a 99-year lease.
WHY TRUMP IS SO INTERESTED IN GREENLAND
In a statement Tuesday responding to Trump, the British government said the deal was made for national security reasons.
“We acted because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future,” a spokesperson told the BBC.