London — When British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets President Trump at the White House Thursday, he’s expected to try to ensure the storied “special relationship” forged during World War II does not go up in flames, while also trying to play a friendly game of defense on behalf of Britain’s weak economy under the shadow of Mr. Trump’s 25% tariff threats.
Starmer will also likely make a case for the ongoing benefits of collective U.S.-European security after recent remarks by Mr. Trump that call into question the U.S. commitment to the NATO alliance’s mutual defense pact, as Russia’s war on Ukraine tests the alliance’s cohesion.
The prime minister may also address with Mr. Trump recent attacks directed at him by Elon Musk, a close adviser to the American president who has backed far-right leaders in Britain and elsewhere in Europe, and called for Starmer to resign.
In short, the mild-mannered British leader has his work cut out for him.
Carl Court/AP
“We want to strike a new partnership. We share the view that our best days lie ahead,” Starmer said at the U.K. ambassador’s residence in Washington before his meeting with Mr. Trump.
“Taking out a chainsaw isn’t quite my style, but we are stripping away red tape and bureaucracy,” he said, at once taking a gentle jab at Musk while also attempting to appeal to Mr. Trump’s passion for a slimmed down government. “We are reforming, permitting, getting things built, reducing barriers to investment and growth, and we’re open for business, open for investment, and we’re determined to help U.S. innovators thrive in the United Kingdom.”
Britain, the U.S., and collective security via NATO
Starmer didn’t arrive in Washington empty-handed. He flew in on the wings of an announcement just days earlier that his government was planning to bump U.K. defense spending from the current 2.3% of GDP to 2.5% by 2027, which his office has billed as Britain’s biggest sustained defense spending increase since the Cold War. Starmer has left open the possibility of that defense spending rising further, to 3%, after the next U.K. general election.
The timing of the prime minister’s announcement was notable, coming just two days before his meeting with Mr. Trump. A White House official said ahead of the meeting that the Trump administration was “very pleased” with Starmer’s announcement, but that it still wants to see America’s NATO allies increase defense spending further, towards 5% of their respective national GDPs. That would be more, proportionally, than even the U.S. spends on defense, which in 2023 amounted to roughly 3.4% of the United States’ GDP.
Mr. Trump has implied that the U.S. could break from the historic collective defense agreement of NATO, known as Article 5, which essentially says that if any member is attacked it will be treated as an attack on all, if other member countries do not boost their defense spending.
“I think that that means there’s got to be security guarantees,” said Starmer, acknowledging the pressure for higher spending, but also indicating that he will ask the White House to provide clear commitments to help defend Ukraine against any future Russian attack if a ceasefire is reached to halt the ongoing war. “I’ve indicated that we will play our full part. There has to be U.S. backing, because otherwise I don’t think it will deter Putin. We are working on that. I’m having extensive discussions about it.”
A White House official said the U.S. appreciated Starmer’s willingness to consider sending British troops to help with peacekeeping efforts to enforce a potential peace deal between Russia and Ukraine, but Mr. Trump has made it clear that any and all security guarantees for Ukraine may have to come from Europe.
“I’m not going to make security guarantees beyond, very much,” Mr. Trump said this week. “We’re going to have Europe do that, because we’re talking about, Europe is their nextdoor neighbor, but we’re going to make sure everything goes well.”
U.K.-British trade
Mr. Trump’s tariff threats will also be on the agenda during Thursday’s White House meeting. A 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imported into the U.S. is set to kick in on March 12, ordered by Mr. Trump, he said, to protect American companies. Starmer may seek an exemption.
Mr. Trump implied weeks ago that a unilateral trade agreement could be worked with the U.K. If that does not happen, there’s concern that some of the estimated 40,000 British jobs directly linked to steel and aluminum production could be lost and entire plants could close.
After Starmer’s meeting with Mr. Trump, he’s scheduled to meet back in London with several European leaders on Sunday, including the heads of state from Germany, Italy and Poland. Starmer will no doubt brief them on his talks with the U.S. president.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy may join them, after he meets with Mr. Trump in Washington on Friday, where he’s expected to sign a financial deal to share his country’s mineral wealth with Washington, which Mr. Trump has called “payback” for U.S. aid to Ukraine over the past three years.
