ANALYSIS — Some analysts and Democratic lawmakers see President Donald Trump pulling away from Europe. But the American leader and his British counterpart contended Thursday that Washington and London still have a “special relationship.”
“Our countries have a special relationship” that has been “passed down through the generations,” Trump said at a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in a packed East Room at the White House. “We’re going to keep it that way.”
The two leaders huddled Thursday at the executive mansion, and while there was plenty the duo said they agreed on, there were also signs both sides have work to do to keep the relationship “special.”
One potential hurdle: political ideology. Starmer hails from the center-left Labour Party, while the two prime ministers Trump dealt with during his first term — Theresa May and Boris Johnson — were from the Conservative Party. Any differences on fundamental issues could allow French President Emmanuel Macron to continue taking the lead among European officials when it comes to managing Trump.
Starmer, who dined with Trump late last year at Trump Tower, began the afternoon with some flattery, not unlike other world leaders who’ve met with the president. He thanked Trump for changing the conversation about the Russia-Ukraine war and said a “historic deal that nobody breaches” was possible. The prime minister presented Trump with a letter from King Charles III inviting him for an “unprecedented second state visit,” Starmer said. Trump accepted on the spot.
Trump had not been clamoring for a visit from the leader of what has long been America’s closest ally. He told reporters last week that Starmer “asked to come,” a request he ultimately granted. The agenda was classic Trump, with the leaders discussing trade-related matters, the U.S. push to end the war in Ukraine, and an insistence from the American side for London to spend more on its own defense, senior administration officials told reporters Thursday morning.
For his part, Trump, during an Oval Office session, declared that he and Starmer “get along famously” and predicted the two governments would find ways to partner on a list of pressing matters — though he did not get into specifics.
Here are three takeaways from Starmer’s first visit to the White House of the second Trump term.
Securing Ukraine
Russia’s war in Ukraine and Trump’s peace initiative were among the items that took center stage, including whether the United Kingdom and other European countries would deploy military forces to help lock in any pact to end the fighting.
Starmer said the “invader” should not be rewarded more in a peace deal, while Trump has been reluctant to criticize Russia over its February 2022 military invasion of Ukraine.
Trump told reporters that peace talks have reached an “advanced” stage but declined to get into too many specifics absent of an agreement. Michael McFaul, who was U.S. ambassador to Russia under Barack Obama, criticized Trump’s talk of a “deal,” saying on social media, “Giving Putin everything he wants and getting nothing in return is not a ‘deal.’ Its capitulation. Its appeasement.”
The U.S. president appeared to soften his tone on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is expected at the White House on Friday to ink a rare-earth minerals agreement that Trump said would begin paying Washington back for the over $300 billion the U.S. has sent to Kyiv since the war began.
Asked about his previous assessment of Zelenskyy as a “dictator,” Trump replied: “Did I say that?” He said their relationship had devolved recently but added that he was newly hopeful for cooperation: “I want to work with him, and we will work with him.” During the news conference, Trump further softened his tone, saying of the Ukrainian leader, “I have a lot of respect for him.”
On the topic of a security force for post-war Ukraine, Starmer has spoken about it as a deterrent to another Russian invasion, but Trump administration officials have said it should merely perform a peacekeeping function.
Trump earlier this week, during a media availability with Macron at the White House, appeared to volunteer European forces for Ukraine while saying he would not send American military forces.
During a Cabinet meeting Wednesday, the first of his second term, Trump said he would not “make security guarantees beyond very much” as part of the minerals deal and peace talks with Ukraine, adding: “We’re going to have Europe do that because … Europe is their next-door neighbor. But we’re going to make sure everything goes well.”
Trade talk
The increasingly transactional Trump made clear he wants the U.S.-British trade arrangement to change. But he said any new framework had not yet been finalized, dubbing Starmer “a very tough negotiator.”
“They got away with murder” for too long, Trump said of American trade partners. “We cannot let that happen.” Later, at the news conference, he said that was true of “friend and foe.”
But Trump said he hopes to have a new U.S.-U.K. trade framework settled “very quickly,” a timeline he often mentions when asked about agreements and announcements. “He earned whatever the hell they pay him over there,” Trump said of the British prime minister, describing a potential new framework as a “real trade that” that would wipe out the “reciprocal tariffs” the American leader has vowed on goods from all countries.
British officials prior to the afternoon meetings contended that the U.S. and the U.K. have established one of the largest trade relationships in the world. Starmer later noted, while alongside Trump, that their countries had worked to erase trade imbalances.
Trump, however, sees it differently, frequently accusing other countries of “screwing” the U.S. for years. But asked if, economically, London must choose between America and the European Union, Trump sidestepped.
“I think we have just a great relationship. We actually had a good relationship before. We’ve met a couple of times, and I’m very impressed with him, very impressed with his wife,” he said of Starmer. “I must say, she’s a beautiful, great woman. And he’s very lucky.” Starmer agreed.
‘Special relationship’
Trump used the word “special” liberally Thursday to describe Starmer and his country. Some analysts had mused that after America’s post-9/11 military missteps and again during Trump’s first term, the “special relationship” had lost its spark.
But Starmer proclaimed Thursday that London has a “true friend in the Oval Office,” adding later: “We’re the closest of nations.”
The term “special relationship” was coined by Winston Churchill in a 1946 speech at Westminster College in Missouri, warning about the need for the allies to push back on the Soviet Union.
Trump and Starmer described the relationship as close, with the president saying he would “always” have the back of British troops should they join a Ukrainian peacekeeping force and come under attack. It was Trump who first mentioned the “special relationship” during their joint news conference.
Still, a challenge for Starmer and traditional American allies: Trump “seems closer in mentality to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin, not least in his belief that the world should essentially be run by two or three great powers,” James Nixey, director of the Russia and Eurasia program at London-based think tank Chatham House, wrote this week. “This suggests to some that if anyone can compel Russia to abide by the terms of an agreement, Trump can.”
GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri said last week that Trump’s willingness to work with Putin on a peace deal was merely a reflection of “a reinvigoration by President Trump of American realism, which is a shift in foreign policy. So for some people who want forever wars, this is going to be a culture shock.”