September dates for Donald Trump's UK state visit confirmed
Donald Trump
will travel to Britain for an unprecedented second full state visit from September 17th to 19th, Buckingham Palace has confirmed.
Mr Trump and his wife Melania will be hosted by
King Charles
at a full state banquet at Windsor Castle in Berkshire, about 25 miles (40km) west of London; Buckingham Palace, which usually hosts British state banquets, is undergoing renovation works.
It appears that, unlike French president Emmanuel Macron, who had a full state visit to Britain last week, the US president may not be afforded the opportunity to give an address to the joint houses of parliament in Westminster during his three-day visit.
Mr Trump's visit begins the day after the UK parliament breaks for recess for the political party conference season. This may be designed to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation for Britain's prime minister,
Keir Starmer
, who had feared a boycott of such as address by Mr Trump by some of his Labour MPs.
Last week, 15 government MPs, including left-leaning rebels Diane Abbott and Nadia Whittome, were among 20 to sign a motion calling on House of Commons speaker Lindsay Hoyle to deny Mr Trump an address to parliament in Westminster.
Former US president Barack Obama addressed both houses during his state visit in 2011. If he was keen to emulate his Democrat predecessor, Mr Trump could in theory still request to give an address. That would potentially force Mr Starmer into recalling parliament or delaying recess.
But it appears unlikely such a request would be made following back-room diplomatic machinations between the UK and US.
Mr Trump previously made a state visit to Britain in 2019, when he infamously breached royal protocol by walking in front of the late queen Elizabeth on a royal lawn.
No elected politician before Mr Trump has ever been asked back for a second state visit.
Mr Starmer, however, theatrically produced an invite from the king from his inside pocket in the Oval Room, during the UK prime minister's trip to see the US president at the White House in Washington in February. Mr Starmer has courted Mr Trump assiduously since last year, hoping to maintain Britain's much-valued 'special relationship' with the US.
The US president is also expected to come to Britain next month on a more informal visit. He will travel to Scotland to visit his two privately owned golf courses there: Turnberry in Ayrshire and the Trump International Scotland in Aberdeenshire that officially opens in August.
Mr Trump is not expected to meet King Charles during his golfing visit next month. However, The Irish Times understands that he may stay at Balmoral Castle, which is barely an hour's drive from his Aberdeenshire course.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
The Irish Times view on handling Donald Trump: a lesson on how to respond
For Donald Trump, the truth, more often than not, is beside the point. So powerful is the US president, and so accustomed are his interlocutors to his casual relationship with facts, that he is rarely challenge as he makes his long and rambling public pronouncements. So it was refreshing to see Jerome Powell, the chair of the US central bank, the Federal Reserve Board, shake his head and publicly correct the record in real time as he stood alongside the president at an event on Thursday. The backdrop was a lengthy campaign by Trump to force the Fed to lower interest rates and his outspoken attempts to try to get Powell to quit. As part of this campaign, the administration has weaponised a renovation programme at the Fed, which it claims is running way over budget. Standing beside Powell in his hard hat, Trump theatrically produced a piece of paper which he said showed that the $2.7 billion bill was now set to be $3.1 billion. Powell calmly studied the note and pointed out that this included the cost of another building that was already completed. 'It's a building that's being built, ' Trump responded. 'No, it was built five years ago,' said Powell. The exchange underlined how seldom Trump's 'facts' are challenged in public by those around him. Everyone wants to humour the unpredictable president. The irony is complete when he publishes posts on his 'Truth Social' channel, a name which carries echoes of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell's 1984. READ MORE World leaders face the same dilemma as Powell did when they stand beside Trump. Most choose to grin and bear it. This is what the EU appears to have done in trade talks with the US, as they face Trump's chaotic mixture of fact and fiction. As the talks come to another crunch – and with the need for support on the Ukraine war in the background – the EU may concede Trump's call for 15 per cent tariffs. When you lead the world's biggest economic and military power, sometimes you get to choose your own facts. A quiet-spoken bureaucrat just gave the world a lesson in how best to respond.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Trump and von der Leyen to meet in effort to land trade deal
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and United States President Donald Trump are to meet in Scotland on Sunday, in an effort to get a deal on tariffs over the line. The planned meeting followed a phone call between the head of the EU's executive and the US president, after several days of intense negotiations between officials to hammer out an agreement that would head off a trade war. 'We have agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations and how we can keep them strong,' Dr von der Leyen said in a post on X. EU negotiators have been pushing to finalise a deal that would avert higher rates of import duties which Mr Trump has threatened on goods coming from Europe. READ MORE Speaking before departing for a golf trip to Scotland, Mr Trump said there was a '50-50″ chance a deal would be agreed. 'I would say that we have a 50-50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50-50 chance of making a deal with the EU,' Mr Trump told reporters on Friday. The US president said negotiators from both sides were working 'closely' together. 'I think the EU has got a pretty good chance of making a deal,' Mr Trump said. The current outline of a draft agreement would see the EU accept blanket tariffs of 15 per cent on future trade with the US, up from a 10 per cent levy Mr Trump introduced in early April. Speaking earlier on Friday, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said an EU-US tariff deal would 'hopefully be signed off before the weekend is over.' Work was continuing to get a 'framework agreement' over the line, which would comprise the broad outline of a tariff deal, allowing further details to be worked out later. [ What would a 15% tariff deal mean for Ireland? Opens in new window ] 'We're certain there will be detailed discussions afterwards in respect of line by line, in terms of many, many products. And so this will continue notwithstanding a framework agreement, [which] hopefully will be signed off before the weekend is over,' he said. 'Part of the reason for the intensity of those negotiations is to try and tie up as much as we can,' he said. The current outline of a draft agreement would see the EU accept blanket tariffs of 15 per cent on future trade with the US, up from a 10 per cent levy Mr Trump introduced in early April. How will the updated National Development Plan shape Ireland in years to come? Listen | 35:59 The European Commission, the EU's executive arm leading the negotiations, wants any future tariffs on pharmaceuticals to be capped at that level. The EU is also seeking to have higher 25 per cent tariffs the US has put on EU-made cars to be reduced to that rate. National governments appear willing to stomach an across-the-board tariff of 15 per cent, to end the uncertainty Mr Trump's threats of potentially much higher levies has caused the European economy, or an escalating trade war if no deal is agreed. 'There has been a degree of volatility in all of this, which has been unsettling for investment and that's a concern I have,' Mr Martin said. The EU wanted to secure some 'certainty' around US tariffs targeting specific sectors, outside of the blanket rate, he said. The EU was not anxious to have to turn to possible retaliation, such as counter-tariffs on US products, he said. Speaking in Luxembourg, the Fianna Fáil leader said he hoped 'sense will prevail' in the ongoing negotiations concerning pharmaceutical products. The sector has avoided US tariffs to date, though Mr Trump previously promised they are coming in a bid to force companies to relocate manufacturing capacity and jobs to the US. Getting a deal on pharma products was 'of equal significance' to the US side, he said. Any 'significant disruption' of the heavily intertwined pharma supply chains would be damaging to the US, and potentially lead to shortages of medicines, Mr Martin said. Access to the European market had been of huge benefit to US pharma multinationals, he said. 'It's a two-way street ... unilateral action on the part of one [side] could ultimately damage the companies themselves and patients and consumers,' he said. Europe had to look at what it could do to increase trade within the bloc, to compensate for the knock-on impact of US tariffs on transatlantic trade, he said.
Irish Examiner
7 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Hopes for trade framework deal between EU and US this weekend
There is fresh hope that a trade framework agreement between the EU and the US will be reached over the weekend, Government sources have confirmed. It comes ahead of the tariff deadline on August 1, which could see Irish and EU goods entering the US hit with 30% tariffs. The original deadline of July 9 was extended by three weeks as US president Donald Trump also increased his proposed tariffs from 20% to 30%. Government sources told the Irish Examiner that there is an expectation, belief, and hope that a deal will be agreed between the US and the EU in the coming days. However, they also sounded a note of caution as they stated there was a 'flurry of activity' earlier this week after several news outlets in Europe reported that a deal was imminent, only for it to be rebuffed by White House officials. There were also suggestions earlier this month that a framework agreement was ready to be signed off, but this also never materialised. In Luxembourg, Taoiseach Micheál Martin told reporters that he was 'hopeful' a preliminary deal could be reached over the weekend. However, he also warned that it would be 'foolish' to bet on it. 'We're certain there will be detailed discussions... in terms of many, many products,' he said. 'This will continue notwithstanding a framework agreement, [which] hopefully will be signed off before the weekend is over. "Part of the reason for the intensity of those negotiations is to try and tie up as much as we can.' The Taoiseach also said there are 'intensive' conversations ongoing and that the EU does not want a 'retaliatory scenario'. On Thursday, EU members agreed to introduce €93bn worth of counter tariffs against the US if an agreement was not reached. The measures would take effect by August 7, but only if a deal is not struck. The package is a consolidation of two separate tariff packages — one in response to US steel and aluminium valued at €21bn, while the second was compiled earlier this summer. Tánaiste Simon Harris, who is also trade minister, said it was 'long past time for a deal'. 'While we were successful in removing some key Irish sensitivities following intensive consultation with the European Commission, this package of rebalancing measures, if implemented would have an adverse effect on European and Irish business,' he said. Read More Consumer sentiment slips in July amid concern over cost pressures and tariff threats, survey shows
