LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington next week to discuss a “wide range of issues”, a British government spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

Starmer is seeking to foster ties with Trump in a delicate balancing act of maintaining good relations with both the new US administration and the European Union, which Britain left five years ago. He is also hoping the UK can act as a bridge between Europe and the United States over the war in Ukraine, stressing that Britain could have “a unique role” in helping to secure any ceasefire in Ukraine.

“The prime minister will travel to Washington DC next week,” the spokesperson said.

The encounter will be the first face-to-face talks between the two leaders since Trump started his second term in the White House in January. “The prime minister looks forward to meeting President Trump shortly to discuss how we can deepen the special relationship across trade, investment and security,” the Downing Street spokesperson said.

Trump has said he will impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from March and has made sudden policy shifts on the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza. The confirmation of the US visit comes as Starmer headed to Paris for a hastily convened meeting of European leaders on Monday on Washington’s policy shift on the war in Ukraine.

Trump sidelined Kyiv and its European backers last week when he called his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the conflict — leaving them fearful they will be excluded from any peace negotiations. Starmer has said he is willing to put British troops on the ground in Ukraine as part of potential peacekeeping efforts, and on Monday called for any peace deal to be “lasting, just and enduring”. 

He also encouraged Europe to “take on a greater role in NATO”, saying at the weekend that the UK would “work to ensure we keep the US and Europe together”. Starmer met Mark Burnett, Trump’s special envoy to the UK, in London last week “during which he took a call from President Trump and discussed his forthcoming visit to the US”, Downing Street said.

It was at least the third time Starmer and Trump have spoken on the phone since the latter’s election win in November. Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said: “We’re going to have a friendly meeting. We have a lot of good things going on.” The UK government has been at pains not to criticize Trump’s early moves, including over the war in Ukraine and Gaza, even when they seem to diverge from UK policy. Starmer has come under personal attack from tech billionaire and top Trump ally Elon Musk. – AFP