Starmer plays Trump card to win a deal and no trade tariffs

David Maddox, The Independent

Sir Keir Starmer delivered a diplomatic success on Thursday as he appeared to charm Donald Trump into cooperation on major issues during his visit to the White House. Even before formal talks had begun, the prime minister looked to have secured a number of concessions on areas including trade and Ukraine. In front of reporters and cameras in the Oval Office, their meeting began with a flourish from Sir Keir as he produced a letter from King Charles inviting the US president to make a second state visit to Britain. A pre-visit will initially take place at Balmoral, but Trump could also address a joint sitting of parliament at Westminster. As the president accepted the invitation, Sir Keir emphasised that he is the first president to have secured two state visit invitations.

President Trump, who dominated the news conference, was also flattered when the prime minister thanked him “for changing the conversation on Ukraine”. But there were some awkward moments, including when Trump mocked the prime minister, asking: “Can you take on Russia by yourselves?” — at which Sir Keir only laughed. In good news for Sir Keir, Trump endorsed his controversial Chagos Islands deal, which hands the territory to Mauritius. This is a blow to Nigel Farage, who has been leading a lobbying effort to overturn the agreement. The president also appeared to warm to the idea of supporting a security backstop for Ukraine, while emphasising his intention to impose trade tariffs on the EU — but not the UK. “I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary,” Trump said.

By the time the two leaders and their respective teams — including British foreign secretary David Lammy and Labour chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, and on the US side, vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio — went to have lunch and engage in formal talks, the prime minister was well on his way to securing some of the key goals from his visit. Trump described the leaders’ relationship as “tremendous”, adding: “We get along very famously.”

And he said Britain’s troops “would not need the support of America” if attacked by Russia in Ukraine, “because they are very good”, but conceded that America “would have Britain’s back”. While he did not completely rule out the imposition of tariffs on Britain, he said the EU “took advantage of the US”, referring to the bloc having a large trade deficit. On the long-running saga of the Chagos Islands deal, Trump said: “I have a feeling it is going to work out very well. I think we will be inclined to go along with your country.” He even awkwardly complimented the prime minister’s wife, Lady Victoria. Asked about common ground between the two leaders, Trump said: “He loves his country and so do I.” He added: “I’m very impressed with him, and very impressed with his wife: she’s a beautiful, great woman.”

Trump also appears to have been pleased about Sir Keir’s boost to Britain’s defence spending — a policy decision the prime minister is set to reinforce this weekend when key EU leaders including Volodymyr Zelensky join him for a weekend conference in London.

However, there were some tense moments. One hiccup came when Vance repeated his criticism — which he made at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month — that European governments, including Britain’s, had retreated from their values and ignored the concerns of voters on migration and free speech. Sir Keir retorted: “We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom. Britain has a long history of free speech, and will have a long history of free speech going forward.”