Why is Rishi Sunak in the US? What the Prime Minister is hoping to achieve in talks with Joe Biden

Rishi Sunak has touched down in Washington D.C. for a two-day trip to the US in which he’ll meet Joe Biden again - for the fourth time in four months.

However, this is Sunak’s first visit to the US capital as prime minister, so he is hoping to make the trip politically worthwhile as he tries to look like he’s delivering on at least some of his promises with a general election on the horizon.

But what can we expect from Sunak’s talks with Biden - and what is he really hoping to achieve?

Improving his relationship with Biden

Relations between the two leaders didn’t get off to the best of starts, when Biden, while congratulating Sunak on entering Downing Street last autumn, referred to him as “Rashi Sanook”.

And when Biden made a much-publicised trip to Northern Ireland on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April, the two men only met for a brief, rather awkward photocall in Belfast (which some called a “bi-latte”), before the US President rushed south to embrace his ancestral origins, and Sunak rushed back to London to prepare for what would be bruising local elections.

It’s also no secret that Sunak and Biden hold very different political philosophies. The President is currently focused on his Inflation Reduction Act, which is all about ploughing billions of new subsidies into green industries. It’s the kind of interventionist policy that’s never going to be in the Conservative leader’s own plans on economic development. Labour’s shadow-chancellor Rachel Reeves, on the other hand, has been very vocal in calling for a UK version of “Bidenomics” and wants the two nations to be united in their prioritisation of the “clean energy economy”.

When the subject does turn to the economy, that’s when things could get frosty between Sunak and Biden.

A shared determination on Ukraine

While it is not yet clear who was to blame for the destruction of the Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine yesterday, Sunak has said that if the act was intentional, it would represent "the largest attack on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine since the start of the war".

Western leaders have been quick to follow Ukraine’s claims that Russia was to blame for the attack. James Cleverly, the UK’s Foreign Secretary, added that the attack constituted a war crime: “The destruction of Kakhovka dam is an abhorrent act. Intentionally attacking exclusively civilian infrastructure is a war crime. The UK stands ready to support Ukraine and those affected by this catastrophe."

Without pointing the finger directly at Vladimir Putin (yet), both leaders will discuss how they can strengthen their support for Kyiv, ahead of Ukraine’s anticipated counter-offensive.

Making the UK a centre for AI?

Where Sunak is likely to be most confident is on the subject of artificial intelligence. A self-confessed geek who's openly obsessed with tech, he’s keen to personally own this issue, and has already said that his government is “looking very carefully” at the issue, following a spate of headline-grabbing warnings around the pace of AI.

The PM wants the UK to be right at the centre of both the development and the regulation of AI. In practical terms, he wants to be involved in setting up a global AI watchdog and a CERN-style research centre, as well as hosting a major AI summit later in the year.

However, America is the home of Silicon Valley, and Biden will likely have his own views on which nation should play the leading role on an issue which is increasingly starting to dominate the news agenda.