TENSIONS WITH TRUMP SHADOW STARMER’S TRIP
The trip comes at a time when there is a flurry of diplomacy between Western countries and China as they hedge against the unpredictability of the US.
Starmer’s trip follows weeks of tensions with Trump over his threats to seize Greenland, his criticism of Britain’s deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago – including an island with an important US-UK air base – to Mauritius, and his comments that North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies avoided frontline combat during the war in Afghanistan.
Starmer will arrive just days after Trump threatened to impose a 100 per cent tariff on Canadian goods if that country’s prime minister, Mark Carney, signed a trade deal with China.
But Starmer insisted Britain could continue to strengthen economic ties with China – without angering Trump – because of his country’s long history of working closely with the US.
“The relationship we have with the US is one of the closest relationships we hold, on defence, security, intelligence and also on trade and lots of areas,” he said.
Starmer was reluctant to be drawn on what he would discuss with Chinese leaders, or if he would bring up the fate of Jimmy Lai, the former Hong Kong media tycoon who was convicted in December of national security crimes. He also declined to say whether he would ask China to pressure Russia to end the Ukraine war.
Asked if Britain and China could strike a deal that would allow more visa-free travel, Starmer said he hoped to make some “progress” in that area.
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