Headline July 12, 2018/ "' SPECIALTY ALL RELATIONSHIPS "'

"' SPECIALTY ALL RELATIONSHIPS "'

BRITAIN'S SO-CALLED "SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP" with the United States was one of the most  enduring alliances of the 20th Century -

Though Brexit and the election of US President Donald Trump have raised every question about its future. Blood and treasure or fantasy : What is the UK-US ''special relationship"?

'THE US has provoked the trade war. We do not want to fight it, but in order to safeguard the interests of the country and the people, we have no choice but to fight," said Gao Feng, spokesman for China's commerce ministry.

And Gao noted that of the $34 billion in taxable products on the US list, about $20 billion - or nearly  two-thirds - are made by firms with foreign investment, including a "significant portion" from America.

"The US's measures are essentially attacking global supply and value chain. Simply put, the US is opening fire on the whole world, and also firing at itself," Gao said.

Economists have for months warned of the potential damage to the US and global economies from aggressive trade policies and protectionism, which would raise prices and upend global supply chains.

But the Trump team has paid little heed to those warnings, with Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross this week slamming them as ''premature and probably quite inaccurate."

Trump himself tweeted this week that the economy is doing "perhaps better than ever" even "prior to fixing some of the worst and most unfair Trade Deals ever made by any country."

Under the banner of his "America First " policy, Trump has also targeted other traditional trade partners of the US, such as the European Union, Japan, Mexico and even Canada.

And signs are growing that the escalating global trade dispute is already affecting the world's top economy, with punitive duties now in place for steel and aluminum and the White House threatening to slap duties on auto parts.

While Trump touts announcements of jobs created in steel plants due to the tariffs, manufacturing industries warn many more jobs will be lost in companies producing autos, auto parts, appliances and other goods that depend on imported components.

One study said as many 400,000 jobs could be lost.

Blood and treasure or fantasy, we turn and take a look at the special relationship between United States and United Kingdom:

INTELLIGENCE

Cooperation is close across the main spy agencies at home and abroad.

Given their respective complimentary geographical strengths, data collected by Britain's GCHQ  eavesdropping agency is of particular use to the National Security Agency [NSA].

The US intelligence budget [excluding military intelligence] is $55 billion while the UK intelligence budget [for funding MI5, MI6 and GCHQ ] is 2.3 billion pounds {$3 billion}.

FINANCE

London and New York are the world's top two biggest financial centres.

While London is by far the centre for foreign exchange trading and international banking, New York is king for bonds and stocks.

London remains the globe's most attractive financial centre, extending the lead over New York despite Brexit, according to the Z/Yen global financial centres [GFCI], which ranks 92 financial centres on factors such as infrastructure and access to high quality staff.

London dominates $5.1 trillion a day global foreign exchange markets : Far more exchange is traded in London than in the United States and the rest of the European Union put together.

Wall Street's S&P 500, which is an index of about 500 of the largest US corporations, is worth about  $24.26 trillion, according to Thomson Reuters data.

By comparison the FTSE all-share, which is an index of more than 600 shares traded on the London Stock Exchange, is worth about 2.76 Trillion pounds {$3.52 trillion}, the data shows.

The US bond market, including government and corporate debt, is worth over $39 trillion, according to the Bank for International Settlements .

In Britain the bond market is worth $6 trillion, the BIS data shows.

With respectful dedication to the  Leaders, Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all ''register" on the World Students Society and Twitter - !E-WOW! - the Ecosystem 2011:

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Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless