A Business Council Gets Its Second Act

Remember when everyone called UK-China relations a "golden era"? That feels like ancient history now, but it's getting a revival. The UK and China are reportedly planning to resurrect the "UK-China CEO Council" during Prime Minister Keir Starmer's trip to Beijing next week, according to Reuters.

The council, which was originally launched in 2018 under former UK Prime Minister Theresa May and former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, will bring together some serious corporate firepower. On the British side, expect executives from AstraZeneca (AZN), BP, HSBC, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Jaguar Land Rover, and Rolls Royce, among others.

China isn't sending the B-team either. Companies like Bank of China, China Construction Bank, China Mobile, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation, China National Pharmaceutical Group, and BYD (BYDDF) are expected to participate.

There's one interesting wrinkle: the visit and the council's agenda are contingent on China's plans to build its largest embassy in Europe in London, a proposal that got the green light on Tuesday. Nothing says "let's do business" quite like diplomatic real estate.

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The timing here isn't coincidental. This rekindling of UK-China business ties is happening against a backdrop of considerable global economic turbulence, much of it stemming from the ongoing U.S.-China trade war. Other countries, including Canada, are busy recalibrating their own relationships with these two economic giants.

China strategist Michael Pillsbury has warned that Canada's trade deal with China and its decision to bypass President Donald Trump could backfire. Economist Justin Wolfers, meanwhile, has slammed Trump's aggressive trade policies as the very reason why U.S. allies are pivoting toward China.

Starmer himself is walking a diplomatic tightrope. During Prime Minister's Questions in the British parliament on Wednesday, he vowed that he "will not yield" to Trump's threats of tariffs over the UK's support for Greenland. Still, he said he plans to continue to "constructively" engage with the U.S. on the matter.

Trump, for his part, hasn't exactly been shy about criticizing Starmer. The former president labeled Starmer's decision to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius "an act of great stupidity."

So the UK finds itself in a familiar position for a mid-sized power: trying to maintain productive relationships with two superpowers who increasingly seem determined to make everyone pick sides. The CEO Council revival suggests that, at least when it comes to business, London is keeping its options open.