London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Sir Keir Starmer says he wants “good relations with all of our allies” and asserted that Britain can maintain strong relationships with both the EU and the US despite Donald Trump’s recent re-election as US president.
The UK prime Minister is on a diplomatic visit this week, on Monday he met with the French Prime Minister in Paris and then left for the COP29 summit in Baku.
Starmer asserted that he wants to build a “good relationship going forward” with the newly elected president. He met with the president-elect in New York last month before it was revealed that the Labour staff had gone to the US for Kamala Harris’s campaign.
On his way to Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan for the climate talks, Prime Minister Starmer denied concerns over the potential UK entanglement in a European Union-United States trade conflict. He avoided discussions of British exemptions from Trump’s proposed tariffs on US imports.
When Starmer was questioned if he was surprised by his smooth relationship with Donald Trump, he responded” No, because my approach is to ensure that I have good relations with leaders across the world. I think that is very important. I think the best way to build good relations that are based on trust and respect is face to face, I’m a big believer in face-to-face engagement.”
He added, “And no, I intended and I think he intended when we met in New York to ensure that we can create a good relationship going forward – that’s the right thing to do, I think we’re both in that space, and it was positive and constructive then as it was in the call that we had on Wednesday”.
Britain’s newly elected centre-left leader stated, “I want good relations with all of our allies, that’s really important — whether that’s the EU or the U.S”.
He added, “Obviously European countries are our nearest trading partners, and we have a long shared history.” Further, referencing two world wars, he said, “But equally the special relationship with the U.S. was forged in difficult circumstances. It’s hugely important to the U.K. I want to ensure we’ve got good relations with all of our important allies, and that includes the EU and the U.S.”
Vowing to restore jobs back to the US, Trump claims he can achieve this by imposing tariffs of up to 20% on American imports. Many economists warn that this move could affect UK exporters significantly. However, British ministers remain confident and assured that they are “extremely well prepared” for any condition of fallout.
The British prime minister said, “I’m not going to get into a hypothetical discussion about policies before we actually get to those policies,” he added, “So we’ll come back to it when we see what they actually are”.
EU is also preparing to respond strongly back to Trump’s imposed tariffs.
Starmer refused to answer when asked about whether the UK could negotiate carve-outs from Trump’s tariffs, or if responsive measures would be taken.