As Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain's leader, crisis in Gaza looms

San Francisco Chronicle​

2 days ago

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — President Donald Trump once suggested his golf course in Scotland 'furthers" the U.S.-U.K. relationship. Now he's getting the chance to prove it.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president's family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland — then later traveling to Abderdeen, on the country's northeast coast, where there's another Trump golf course and a third is opening soon.
During his first term in 2019, Trump posted of his Turnberry property, 'Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf course anywhere in the world. Also, furthers U.K. relationship!' Starmer is not a golfer, but toggling between Trump's Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name — and on golf's ability to shape geopolitics.
However, even as Trump may want to focus on showing off his golf properties, Starmer will try to center the conversation on more urgent global matters. He plans to urge Trump to press Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and attempt to end what Downing St. called 'the unspeakable suffering and starvation' in the territory, while pushing for a ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas.
Britain, along with France and Germany, has criticized Israel for 'withholding essential humanitarian assistance' as hunger spread in Gaza. Over the weekend, Starmer said Britain will take part in efforts led by Jordan to airdrop aid after Israel temporarily eased restrictions.
But British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged Monday that only the U.S. has 'the leverage' to make a real difference in the conflict.
Still, asked about the crisis in Gaza on Sunday night, Trump was largely dismissive — focused more on how he's not personally gotten credit for previous attempts to provide food aid.
'It's terrible. You really at least want to have somebody say, 'Thank you,'' Trump said.
The president added, 'It makes you feel a little bad when you do that" without what he considered proper acknowledgement.
Starmer is under pressure from his Labour Party lawmakers to follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state, a move both Israel and the U.S. have condemned. The British leader says the U.K. supports statehood for the Palestinians but that it must be 'part of a wider plan' for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
Also on Monday's agenda, according to Starmer's office, are efforts to promote a possible peace deal to end fighting in Russia's war with Ukraine — particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next 50 days.
Trump in the past sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for also failing to express enough public gratitude toward U.S. support for his country, taking a similar tack he's now adopting when it comes to aid for Gaza. The president, though, has shifted away from that tone and more sharply criticized Putin and Russia in recent weeks.
On Tuesday, Trump will be at the site of his new course near Aberdeen for an official ribbon-cutting. It opens to the public on Aug. 13 and tee times are already for sale — with the course betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales.
Protesters have planned a demonstration in Balmedie, near Trump's existing Aberdeen golf course, after demonstrators took to the streets across Scotland on Saturday to decry the president's visit while he was golfing.
Starmer and Trump are likely to find more common ground on trade issues.
While China initially responded to Trump's tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U.S. goods, it has since begun negotiating to ease trade tensions. Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach. He's gone out of his way to work with Trump, flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House, and teaming up to announce a joint trade framework on tariffs for some key products in May.
Starmer and Trump then signed a trade agreement during the G7 summit in Canada that freed the U.K.'s aerospace sector from U.S. tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from 25% to 10% while increasing the amount of U.S. beef it pledged to import.
Discussions with Starmer follow a Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry course. They announced a trade framework that will put 15% tariffs on most goods from both countries, though many major details remain pending.
The president has for months railed against yawning U.S. trade deficits around the globe and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in a hurry. But the U.S. ran an $11.4 billion trade surplus with Britain last year, meaning it exported more to the U.K. than it imported. Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow.
There are still lingering U.S.-Britain trade issues that need fine-tuning. The deal framework from May said British steel would enter the U.S. duty-free, but it continues to face a 25% levy.
U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said Monday that 'negotiations have been going on on a daily basis' and 'there's a few issues to push a little bit further today,' though he downplayed expectations of a resolution.
The leader of Scotland, meanwhile, said he will urge Trump to lift the current 10% tariff on Scotch whisky. First Minister John Swinney said the spirit's 'uniqueness' justified an exemption.
Even as some trade details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly difficult choices in Gaza and Ukraine, however, Starmer's staying on Trump's good side appears to be working — at least so far.