UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will walk a diplomatic tightrope Thursday when he visits the White House seeking to avoid major disagreements with US President Donald Trump on several thorny subjects.
His visit comes hot on the heels of French President Emmanuel Macron, who said after talks with Trump in Washington on Monday that he believed “there is a path forward”.
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Here are the topics expected to be on the agenda when Labour leader Starmer and the Republican president hold their first bilateral meeting since Trump returned to White House last month.
- Ukraine -
Washington’s opening of talks with Moscow to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, and its sidelining of Europe in the process, is set to dominate the Oval Office discussions.
Starmer wants to act as a “bridge” between Europe and the United States to ensure that any settlement to end the conflict provides Ukraine with territorial and security guarantees.
That will see Starmer having to tread a fine line between backing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky but not annoying Trump who has waged a war of words with Ukraine’s leader.
Starmer will likely insist that any European “reassurance force” sent to monitor a truce would require a US “backstop”, in the form of air cover, hoping his offer to put UK troops in Ukraine will placate Trump.
- Chagos -
Starmer will try to persuade Trump to sign off on the British government’s decision to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and pay its former colony to access a key US-UK military base.
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Starmer insists that international legal rulings have put Britain’s ownership of the archipelago in doubt and only an agreement with Mauritius can guarantee continued use of the US base on Diego Garcia island.
But before entering office, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the deal posed a “serious threat”, arguing it gives the islands to a country allied with China.
The base is leased to the US and is one of its key Asia-Pacific military facilities, with Washington using it as a hub for long-range bombers and ships.
Britain and Mauritius have agreed that Trump’s administration will have a say on the final terms of the agreement.
Approval would allow Starmer to move on from a subject that has caused him considerable flak domestically.
- Tariffs -
Starmer will try to convince Trump that his planned 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports due to take effect next month would damage America as well as Britain.
Britain exports about 10 percent of its steel to the United States, shipping nearly £400 million ($495 million) worth there in 2023.
British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said this month that Britain sends to America “very specialised, relatively niche products that the US needs.”
The tariffs “would be negative for ourselves, it would be negative for the US as well,” he told the BBC.
- Trade deal -
Starmer is looking to kickstart stalled US-UK talks on a free-trade agreement.
The United States is the UK’s largest bilateral trading partner and largest export market outside of the European Union.
But free trade discussions, touted by Brexiteers as a major benefit of leaving the EU, stalled in 2021.
The previous Conservative government pursued several smaller agreements with individual US states.
A trade deal would massively help Starmer in his mission to spur UK economic growth.
- Gaza -
Starmer’s position on the war-ravaged Gaza Strip is at odds with Trump’s.
The US president has suggested that the United States could take over the Palestinian territory and make it “the Riviera of the Middle East”.
His proposal would see Gazans resettled in other countries.
But Starmer has insisted that Palestinians “must be allowed home” and “we should be with them in that rebuild on the way to a two-state solution”.
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