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Donald Trump in London has encouraged hope that he could have a constructive relationship with the UK, telling reporters that he liked Sir Keir Starmer “and could travel to Britain on his first side since he returned to the White House.
Trumpwho said he would talk to the UK Prime Minister “in the next 24 hours,” he said about Starmer: “He is liberal, which is a little different from me, but I think he is a very good person and I think he has done very good so far the job. “
The positive comments from the US president will enhance the feeling in Downing Street that Trump is not seeking a conflict with Starmer, despite previous tensions with the Prime Minister and the higher members of his cabinet.
The expectation in London is that Trump will not oppose the appointment of Lord Peter Mandelson as a new British ambassador to Washington; He should start at the scene next month.
Starmer allies also hope Trump won’t block a disputed job in which Britain will give up sovereignty over the islands of Chagos to Mauritius in exchange for long -term guarantees on the future of the UK military base on Diego Garcia.
Trump did not mention the topic when he talked to Starmer before Christmas, and speaking of the aviation that, he told reporters: “It was no number one on my list. I’ll be honest with you.”
The US president said on Saturday night “Gaggle” journalist that he managed well with Starmer. “He represented his country in terms of philosophy,” Trump said.
“Maybe I disagree with his philosophy, but I have a very good relationship with him.” Trump met Starmer at dinner last September at Trump Tower last September, in what both sides considered a positive encounter.
Asked where he could go on the first international journey of his second White House term, Trump said: “It could be Saudi Arabia, it could be the UK. It can traditionally be the UK.
“Last time I went to Saudi Arabia because they agreed to buy 450 billion US goods by US states.”
Starmer this month told financial times in Ki That he had a “constructive” relationship with Trump, despite numerous criticism of the US president by ministers of work in the past.
Trump picked up The involvement of employees of work in the unsuccessful Kamala Harris campaign campaign, while Tech billionaire Elon Musk-Koji called Trump “Buster” in his administration-Starmer’s “Tiranian”.
David Lammy, a British Foreign Minister, had previously called Trump “a woman hatred, an neo-Nazi sympathetic sociopath,” although Lammy said the two pampered the Trump Tower’s relations in September.
Downing Street did not receive indications from Trump’s team that the president would block Mandelson as a new ambassador to the UK, despite the former role of peers as EU Commissioner to his close relationships with China. “No problem,” said one person who met that question.
Starmer’s team is also convinced that Trump will share the position of officials in the US State Department and Pentagon that the Chagos Islands is good for American security, although it was criticized by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Trump’s positive comments about Starmer are opposed to those he has made from his inauguration about the EU and Canada, and both president proposed could be hit by criminal tariffs.
Jonathan Reynolds, British trade secretary, He claimed That Britain should not hit the tariffs, given that the trade between the UK and the US is mainly based on services and is widely balanced.
