Key takeaways from Keir Starmer’s talks with Donald Trump

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has met US President Donald Trump throughout his first go to to the White Home.

Listed here are a number of the key moments because the pair took questions from reporters earlier than and after the talks.

Sir Keir didn’t flip as much as the assembly empty-handed.

Half method by their opening remarks, the prime minister reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out an official letter from King Charles III – an invite for a second state go to.

Trump gave the impression to be genuinely taken again for a number of seconds, asking: “Am I presupposed to learn it proper now?”

After taking a minute to learn the letter, Trump stated he accepted the invite and that it might be an “honour” to go to the “improbable” nation.

He added that King Charles was a “lovely man, a beautiful man”.

Throughout Trump’s first time period as president, he met King Charles’s mom, the late Queen Elizabeth II, throughout a three-day state go to in 2019.

Sir Keir stated Thursday’s invitation to host Trump as soon as extra for a second full state go to was “unprecedented”.

Whereas cordial, the preliminary assembly within the Oval Workplace between Sir Keir and Trump left little question that the US president hoped to be firmly in cost.

The assembly was a sample we have now seen six instances with international leaders on the Trump White Home, together with with French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week: Trump taking management of the room and utilizing the chance to get his personal messages, each home and worldwide, throughout to the reporters there.

Throughout their half-hour session, Trump leaned ahead and barely in the direction of Sir Keir – carrying a virtually an identical, however barely completely different colored tie to Trump’s – dominating the dialog and taking cost of calling on reporters.

A joint afternoon information convention later started with a barely extra diplomatic and matter-of-fact tone, with each Trump and Sir Keir standing at their respective lecterns and going to appreciable lengths to lavish reward on the opposite.

Trump joked he would have been president 20 years in the past with Sir Keir’s “lovely” accent.

At one level, Sir Keir was requested about Trump’s controversial name to make Canada – a member of the Commonwealth – the 51st state of the US.

“I feel you are looking for a divide that does not exist,” Sir Keir replied.

Trump interjected shortly with the phrases “that is sufficient” earlier than shifting on – once more taking management of the room as he stood subsequent to a visibly shocked Sir Keir.

To place it gently, Sir Keir and Trump are from completely different colleges of politics – each of their fashion and substance.

However requested to call their similarities Trump stated: “He loves his nation, and so do I.”

What else do they share? Trump stated “we like one another, frankly, and we like one another’s nation”.

However the “widespread thread” between the 2 males was that “we love our nation”, Trump stated.

Sir Keir had a lot of difficult subjects to lift with Trump – from commerce to US safety ensures for Ukraine – and at first of their information convention he known as his counterpart “a really powerful negotiator”.

Requested if the prime minister had satisfied him to not impose commerce tariffs on the UK, Trump stated “he tried”, including: “He was working onerous, I will inform you that. He earned regardless of the hell they pay him over there.”

However he has stated there was “an excellent likelihood” of a commerce deal “the place tariffs would not be crucial”.

Such a deal, Trump stated, could possibly be made “fairly shortly”.

Sir Keir spoke of a “new financial cope with superior know-how at its core”.

Trump stated he was “inclined to associate with” the UK’s Chagos Islands deal.

The UK is in talks with Mauritius about handing over the territory however persevering with to lease one of many islands, Diego Garcia, which comprises a UK-US navy airbase.

The settlement has been mired in uncertainty after Trump’s re-election as US president, given a number of US Republicans have argued it may ship a possible safety increase to China.

However throughout the assembly, Trump stated he had a “feeling” the deal was going to “work out very nicely”.

Final week, Trump made headlines by calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” in a social media publish, echoing Russian claims about Kyiv’s cancelled elections.

An election was scheduled for Might 2024, but it surely was suspended as a result of Ukraine has been underneath martial legislation since Russia started its full-scale invasion.

Requested by the NEWSTORN’s Chris Mason about his use of the phrase “dictator”, Trump replied: “Did I say that? I am unable to consider I’d say that.”

Within the information convention later, Trump additionally appeared to have softened his perspective to Zelensky, praising him as “very courageous” and saying the pair acquired on “very well”.

Speaking in regards to the potential for a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, Trump stated “progress in the direction of peace” would proceed when Zelensky visits the White Home on Friday. The 2 are anticipated to signal a significant minerals deal.

On the Munich Safety Convention final week, US Vice President JD Vance attacked the UK and different European democracies, warning that “free speech is in retreat.”

Requested in regards to the feedback, Trump known as on his deputy to defend himself. Vance argued “there have been infringements on free speech that really have an effect on not simply the British” but additionally “American know-how firms and by extension, Americans”.

That led to Sir Keir reducing in, saying “we have had free speech for a really, very very long time in the UK – and it’ll final for a really, very very long time”.

He rejected Vance’s declare, saying “in relation to free speech within the UK, I am very pleased with our historical past there”.