AYLESBURY: President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was \u201ctremendously thankful\u201d for the pageantry and splendor lavished on him during his second state visit to the United Kingdom as he wrapped up a trip that largely sidestepped major public disagreements over difficult trade and geopolitical issues.<\/p>\n
The mutual warmth, along with Trump\u2019s abundance of kind words bestowed on the host country, suggested that an all-out charm offensive by the royal family and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had its desired effect, even though there was a notable lack of progress on some key matters.<\/p>\n
Trump and Starmer signed what both sides hailed as a historic agreement on science and technology, and they held a roundtable with global business leaders where they suggested the deal could mean significant job gains. Among the topics tackled mostly in private talks between Trump and Starmer were the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and US tariff rates on steel imported from Britain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bond between our countries is like no other anywhere in the world,\u201d Trump said at a news conference at Chequers, the 16th-century manor house northwest of London that serves as a rural retreat for British leaders. The US and UK, the American president said, have \u201cdone more good for the planet than any other nation in history.\u201d<\/p>\n
Joining in the bonhomie, Starmer said that \u201ctime and time again, it is British and American men and women, side by side, changing the path of history and turning it toward our values, toward freedom, democracy and the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n
The very end of the trip saw Trump\u2019s helicopter carrying him from Chequers to the airport at Stansted for his flight to Washington make an unscheduled landing at a local airfield due to what the White House called a \u201cminor hydraulic issue.\u201d No one was injured, and a backup chopper completed the journey.<\/p>\n
The Trump-Starmer mutual admiration followed King Charles III and Queen Camilla\u2019s feting of Trump and first lady Melania Trump at Windsor Castle on Wednesday with all the pomp the monarchy can muster, including the biggest military honor guard ever assembled for a state visit.<\/p>\n
Trump called the king and queen \u201ctwo fantastic people\u201d and said he was\u201d \u201ctremendously thankful\u201d and \u201cgrateful beyond words\u201d for the hospitality.<\/p>\n
Even high-profile points of dissent, such as Britain\u2019s impending move to recognize a Palestinian state, stayed cordial. \u201cI have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score,\u201d Trump said, adding that \u201cit\u2019s one of our few disagreement, actually.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Trump was asked about his lack of progress in brokering a deal to end Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine and he acknowledged that Russian President Vladimir Putin has \u201dlet me down,\u201d Starmer escalated the flattery a notch. The prime minister said he and Trump had discussed how to \u201cdecisively increase the pressure on Putin\u201d and that Trump had \u201cled the way here.\u201d<\/p>\n
There was disagreement, too, over immigration policy.<\/p>\n
Trump urged Britain to take a harder line and insisted he had made clear to Starmer that when too many people enter illegally, it \u201cdestroys countries from within.\u201d Still, when Starmer sharply criticized Hamas, Trump reached over from his podium and slapped the prime minister on the back in support.<\/p>\n
\u2018Genuinely like each other\u2019<\/p>\n
At an earlier signing ceremony for the agreement meant to promote tech investment, Starmer referred to the Republican president as \u201cmy friend, our friend\u201d and spoke of \u201cleaders who respect each other and leaders who genuinely like each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Trumps\u2019 final day in Britain began by bidding farewell to the king and queen at Windsor Castle and flying by helicopter to Chequers for more spectacle: a ceremonial honor guard with bagpipers, in a nod to Trump\u2019s Scottish heritage, and a parachute demonstration. He also was shown the archive of wartime leader Winston Churchill, who coined the term \u201cspecial relationship\u201d for the bond between the allies.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s something Trump\u2019s British hosts have stressed repeatedly, almost 250 years after that relationship endured a rocky start in 1776.<\/p>\n
To coincide with the visit, Britain said US companies had pledged 150 billion pounds ($204 billion) in investment in the U.K, including 90 billion pounds ($122 billion) from investment firm Blackstone in the next decade. Investment will also flow the other way, including almost $30 billion by pharmaceutical firm GSK in the US<\/p>\n
UK officials say the deal will bring thousands of jobs and billions in investment in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and nuclear energy. It includes a UK arm of Stargate, a Trump-backed AI infrastructure project led by OpenAI, and a host of AI data centers around the UK American companies are announcing 31 billion pounds ($42 billion) in investment in the UK\u2019s AI sector, including $30 billion from Microsoft for products including Britain\u2019s largest supercomputer.<\/p>\n
British officials said they have not agreed to scrap a digital services tax or water down Internet regulation to get the deal, some details of which have yet to be announced.<\/p>\n
There was less movement on tariffs.<\/p>\n
In May, Starmer and Trump said they had agreed to reduce US tariffs on Britain\u2019s key auto and aerospace industries. Talks on lowering duties on steel and aluminum to zero from their current level of 25 percent have stalled even with a promise four months ago of a settlement within weeks.<\/p>\n
Trump was asked in a Fox News Channel interview, taped in London and aired while he flew home, whether he would be willing to decrease tariffs on UK steel. He was noncommittal, saying, \u201cWe\u2019re making a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Few advancements on Ukraine while Epstein is largely avoided<\/p>\n
The British government has grown increasingly critical of Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza and the suffering of Palestinian civilians. Starmer said the situation was \u201ca humanitarian catastrophe\u201d as he acknowledged a divide with the president on recognizing a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n
While the prime minister has played a major part in European efforts to shore up US support for Ukraine, Trump\u2019s visit offered few major advancements. Trump even insisted at one point, that the conflict \u201cdoesn\u2019t affect the US\u201d<\/p>\n
The president has expressed frustration with Putin, but has not made good on threats to impose new sanctions on Russia. The king, in his state banquet speech Wednesday night, offered Trump a gentle nudge, noting \u201cas tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
It seemed like questions about Jeffrey Epstein would dog Trump throughout the trip, especially given that his visit began days after Starmer fired Britain\u2019s ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, over the envoy\u2019s past friendship with the convicted sex offender, who authorities say killed himself in 2019.<\/p>\n
But Trump largely avoided the issue. Police did arrest four people over a stunt that saw an image of Trump and Jeffrey Epstein projected on a tower at Windsor Castle.<\/p>\n
Asked about Mandelson during the news conference, Trump said only that he did not know the former ambassador, despite photographs showing the pair together in the Oval Office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AYLESBURY: President Donald Trump said Thursday that he was \u201ctremendously thankful\u201d for the pageantry and splendor lavished on him during his second state visit to the United Kingdom as he wrapped up a trip that largely sidestepped major public disagreements over difficult trade and geopolitical issues. The mutual warmth, along with Trump\u2019s abundance of kind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":503762,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-503741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n