• President Donald Trump, sitting beside Prime Minister Keir Starmer, emphasized the “unbreakable bond” between the United States and United Kingdom today as they held talks at the prime minister’s country home on the second day of the US leader’s state visit.
• A host of topics were expected to come up at their meeting — including Russia’s war in Ukraine, Israel’s war in Gaza and trade. Both leaders are due to hold a news conference in the next hour that you’ll be able to follow here.
• Trump’s first full day in Britain was more ceremonial as he joined the royal family at Windsor Castle and attended a state banquet.
How have previous Trump-Starmer meetings gone?
In a word, well.
When he met Donald Trump at the Oval Office in February, Keir Starmer wasted little time in brandishing a letter from King Charles III, inviting him for a second state visit to the United Kingdom.
Starmer, a man not prone to effusiveness, stressed that this visit would be “historic,” “incredible,” “unprecedented.” (Trump is the first foreign leader to be invited for two UK state visits.)
Starmer’s combination of flattery, deference and a Trumpian penchant for the superlative seemed to work. Trump was delighted with his invitation.
When Trump’s tariffs were unveiled in April, Britain was spared the more punitive rates. And when the president left the G7 summit in Canada early, Trump paused to praise his relationship with Starmer.
“We’ve become friends in a short period of time. He’s slightly more liberal than I am, to put it mildly. But for some reason we get along,” Trump said.
When the pair met in Scotland in July, Starmer was under pressure to discuss the starvation crisis in Gaza due to Israel’s blockade. Some feared Starmer’s language (he said Britons were “revolted” by images of starving children) could anger Trump.
But the president concurred with Starmer, saying there was “real starvation” in the enclave.
Instead, Trump’s man gripe during that trip was over Britain’s reluctance to drill more oil in the North Sea, and over the windfarms which he said spoiled the view from his golf course in Turnberry, and were “driving the whales loco.” See more
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