Business News President’s Focus


This month’s President’s Focus is by Paul Kehoe of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce. Following a momentous month for UK-US relations, his words come at a pertinent time as he asks if we are still truly Brothers in Arms, as recorded in the iconic eighties’ Dire Straits album.


Some of you might recall that a band called Dire Straits created one of the first digitally-recorded albums called Brothers in Arms. It was initially received by the


music press at the time as just another Dire Straits album but it went on to be one of the most successful in music history – it went platinum 10 times in the UK and nine times in the US and sold over 30 million copies. The record will also be


remembered for its comments on consumerism and the fact that on the music videos on the MTV channel the stars get “their money for nothing”. Mark Knopfler was lead with the


band and wrote most of the other songs on the album that included “Money for Nothing” the eponymous title track, “So Far Away” and “Walk of Life”. The success of this iconic album


at the height of the 80s with new electronic gadgets coming on stream was achieved across the Atlantic by virtue of the common bonds between two nations, the USA and the UK. Despite our marked differences in


culture, there is so much that binds these two nations together (and a third one, Canada, where those who really wanted to remain connected to the Crown did not join in the Boston Tea Party and the American War of Independence in 1770s). The title track though has been


true of the more recent relationship we have had with the USA where each country has in turn supported the other in times of war and crisis and formed a strong bond which has been termed a ‘special relationship’. That relationship has been tested


from time to time outside the world of wars and despite the collaboration and mutual support there is no doubt that both countries are intensely competitive and both have been open to free trade and encouraging others to drop trade barriers and open their economies. When you are the top economy


in the world, you can have some international clout but even with the world’s fifth largest economy as your closest ally, there are times when a country might just need to put its own people first.


10 CHAMBERLINK July/August 2018


‘The thing about the USA and the UK is that they have learned to be competitively collaborative’


The recent announcement by


President Trump to initiate increased tariffs on steel imports with possible retaliation by the EU and other countries is not conducive for getting the best from the world’s trading system. From the American point of view,


you can see why the President has delivered on his vision of ‘America First’. If you had been to the once- proud industrial cities of the US mid-west which were built upon the coal, iron and steel mills all delivered by the mighty iron horse or even visited Motown, Detroit, you might find that these places are shadows of their once great industrial fortress past. They have been termed the ‘rust


belt’ where unemployment is high and the new economies have passed them by. Whether placing tariffs on


imports will help the rust belt remains to be seen but in the rest of the US, where the new


technologies have been readily adapted or the work forces retrained in new economies, they are faring reasonably well. The UK has also been through its


own rust belt era some 30 years ago just when Dire Straits where releasing their album. Communities had to change as work was exported overseas to cheaper labour economies and technologies changed rapidly. If you are first to do something


and rely on legacy to get you through, you just might get caught out when the inevitable change in technology renders your current infrastructure obsolete over night – think of George Stephenson’s wonderful legacy compared to high speed trains and copper wire to fibre. However, the thing about the


USA and the UK is that they have learned to be competitively collaborative and while they have shared a common language and


values, they have known hardship and success. They have fought together and


worked together for a fairer world. This can only happen though in the future by ensuring that trade remains open and that we can work together for a common purpose. Isolationism doesn’t work. The UK is finding that out


currently. We are all part of one planet but we are trying to find our competitive advantage to make a difference for our people. Surely that comes through innovation and working across frontiers. We recently had an opportunity


to work with our American and Canadian colleagues at the BABC conference held here in Birmingham. It was an opportunity to discuss the mutuality of our relationship and to know that working together with our closest ally and acting as a bridge into Europe, we can prove Knopfler wrong when he said on the same album that: “they can’t find a way to be one world in harmony” - perhaps through open trade we can.


Common bonds: Paul Kehoe speaking at the BABC conference dinner


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