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Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Times
Trump's Scotland visit could be awkward for Starmer — here's what to expect
President Trump's first official trip to the UK since his re-election is highly unpredictable. The White House has nominally described it as a 'private' trip, which ostensibly involves visits to his golf resorts at Turnberry on the Ayrshire coast and Menie in will inevitably be about much more than golf, though. Trump will be accompanied by the full apparatus of the US state — Air Force One and his state car, The Beast. • Trump's links to Scotland — from golf courses to family history Thousands of police officers will be present and the full cost of policing the trip is likely to be more than £10 million, based on previous Trump Keir Starmer will meet the president at Turnberry on Monday, with a formal bilateral meeting and lunch. The White House expects them both to head to Menie, where the US president is expected to play a round of golf to mark the opening of his new course. Given that Starmer has little or no interest in golf, it could be an awkward affair. And as ever with Trump, it is a case of expecting the unexpected. At the centre of the agenda for talks between Starmer and Trump will be trade. The White House said that it wanted to 'refine' the deal hammered out between the nations this year, but what does that mean in practice? Starmer has two priorities, the first of which is removing 25 per cent tariffs on steel exports to the US. There has been a disagreement about the types of steel that would be covered by a zero-tariff quota system, with a discussion over whether imported steel should be covered. The US has also been seeking assurances over British Steel, still formally owned by the Chinese Jingye Group, amid concerns that it could provide Beijing with a back door into the US market. Officials say there has been significant progress in both areas and a deal is expected. The other significant issue is pharmaceuticals. Trump has threatened to levy import duties of up to 200 per cent on drugs coming into the US. Given that the UK exports pharmaceuticals worth £9 billion a year to the US, this is a major cause for concern. A top priority for Starmer will be to ensure that Trump follows through on his dramatic shift of position towards Ukraine. A few months after his disastrous Oval Office bust-up with President Zelensky, Trump is now condemning Russia and saying that he is 'very unhappy' with President Putin for failing to honour his promises. 'He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening,' Trump said recently of his Russian counterpart. Trump has now pledged to send 'top of the line weapons' worth 'billions of dollars' to Europe to help defend Ukraine, while threatening tariffs on countries that trade with Russia. Given Trump's inconsistency, Starmer's priority will be to ensure that this rhetorical shift translates to reliable support for Kyiv. Trump has recently been increasing pressure on Israel to shift approach after reacting badly to what the White House described as 'pictures of starvation of women and children' in Gaza. He has shown clear signs of losing patience with Binyamin Netanyahu, months after tweeting an AI depiction of him relaxing with the Israeli prime minister in a 'Trump Gaza' resort. This presents Starmer with a question about how much political capital to deploy in persuading the president to help force a ceasefire. This week the prime minister described the situation in Gaza as 'intolerable on so many levels' and is facing increasing pressure from the left to do more, including recognising a Palestinian state. However judging how far to push Trump, given the president's long-standing support for Israel, is a delicate calculation. Trump has repeatedly raised his fears over migration in Britain and more widely in Europe, saying that mass migration had created a 'total mess' that the US should learn from. He has said that London in particular is 'no longer recognisable' due to immigration and that it was 'changing the culture' of Europe, including could be asked whether he still considers parts of London 'no-go zones' — a claim he made in 2015 as he said that parts of the capital had been so radicalised that police were afraid to go there, which would reignite his longstanding feud with Sir Sadiq Khan, the London mayor. • What Trump protesters are preparing for his 'welcome' to Scotland In the present climate Trump may have a view on the protests outside asylum hotels and the broader issue of social cohesion. Downing Street will be wary. Trump's administration has deep concerns about the state of free speech in the UK, with officials accusing Britain of 'trampling democracy' and becoming a 'hotbed of digital censorship'. The White House has 'monitored' the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for social media posts over the Southport riots, while JD Vance, the vice-president, has criticised bans on praying outside abortion clinics as infringing religious rights. Vance used his Munich Security Conference speech to claim that 'freedom of expression was 'in retreat' across Britain and wider Europe', directly singling out Online Safety Act, which comes into effect on Friday, has been a particular target of criticism with the US State Department saying that it had 'concern about the spill-over effects that impact free speech in America'. For the president, golf is a serious business and that poses some tricky challenges for Starmer, who does not play. For a start, Trump faces lingering local anger outside Aberdeen over claims he never made good on promises of lucrative development made when he bought the Menie Estate in 2006. Then there is the diplomatic headache of Trump's demand that his other Scottish course, Turnberry, host the Open championship. The British government is said to have interceded with golf's government body the R&A on this issue but will be wary of lobbying for special favours to please a foreign head of state. Unlike Finland's president Alexander Stubb, who wowed Trump with his golf prowess, Starmer has been unable to rely on his putting skills to forge a relationship. Indeed, the only cabinet minister with a serviceable golf game is said to be Lord Hermer. The attorney-general and international law enthusiast, who is unlikely to gel with the president, is not being deployed on the links.
Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Times
Trump's Scotland trip could be awkward for PM — here's what to expect
President Trump's first official trip to the UK since his re-election is highly unpredictable. The White House has nominally described it as a 'private' trip, which ostensibly involves visits to his golf resorts at Turnberry on the Ayrshire coast and Menie in will inevitably be about much more than golf, though. Trump will be accompanied by the full apparatus of the US state — Air Force One and his state car, The Beast. • Trump's links to Scotland — from golf courses to family history Thousands of police officers will be present and the full cost of policing the trip is likely to be more than £10 million, based on previous Trump Keir Starmer will meet the president at Turnberry on Monday, with a formal bilateral meeting and lunch. The White House expects them both to head to Menie, where the US president is expected to play a round of golf to mark the opening of his new course. Given that Starmer has little or no interest in golf, it could be an awkward affair. And as ever with Trump, it is a case of expecting the unexpected. At the centre of the agenda for talks between Starmer and Trump will be trade. The White House said that it wanted to 'refine' the deal hammered out between the nations this year, but what does that mean in practice? Starmer has two priorities, the first of which is removing 25 per cent tariffs on steel exports to the US. There has been a disagreement about the types of steel that would be covered by a zero-tariff quota system, with a discussion over whether imported steel should be covered. The US has also been seeking assurances over British Steel, still formally owned by the Chinese Jingye Group, amid concerns that it could provide Beijing with a back door into the US market. Officials say there has been significant progress in both areas and a deal is expected. The other significant issue is pharmaceuticals. Trump has threatened to levy import duties of up to 200 per cent on drugs coming into the US. Given that the UK exports pharmaceuticals worth £9 billion a year to the US, this is a major cause for concern. A top priority for Starmer will be to ensure that Trump follows through on his dramatic shift of position towards Ukraine. A few months after his disastrous Oval Office bust-up with President Zelensky, Trump is now condemning Russia and saying that he is 'very unhappy' with President Putin for failing to honour his promises. 'He talks nice and then bombs everybody in the evening,' Trump said recently of his Russian counterpart. Trump has now pledged to send 'top of the line weapons' worth 'billions of dollars' to Europe to help defend Ukraine, while threatening tariffs on countries that trade with Russia. Given Trump's inconsistency, Starmer's priority will be to ensure that this rhetorical shift translates to reliable support for Kyiv. Trump has recently been increasing pressure on Israel to shift approach after reacting badly to what the White House described as 'pictures of starvation of women and children' in Gaza. He has shown clear signs of losing patience with Binyamin Netanyahu, months after tweeting an AI depiction of him relaxing with the Israeli prime minister in a 'Trump Gaza' resort. This presents Starmer with a question about how much political capital to deploy in persuading the president to help force a ceasefire. This week the prime minister described the situation in Gaza as 'intolerable on so many levels' and is facing increasing pressure from the left to do more, including recognising a Palestinian state. However judging how far to push Trump, given the president's long-standing support for Israel, is a delicate calculation. Trump has repeatedly raised his fears over migration in Britain and more widely in Europe, saying that mass migration had created a 'total mess' that the US should learn from. He has said that London in particular is 'no longer recognisable' due to immigration and that it was 'changing the culture' of Europe, including could be asked whether he still considers parts of London 'no-go zones' — a claim he made in 2015 as he said that parts of the capital had been so radicalised that police were afraid to go there, which would reignite his longstanding feud with Sir Sadiq Khan, the London mayor. • What Trump protesters are preparing for his 'welcome' to Scotland In the present climate Trump may have a view on the protests outside asylum hotels and the broader issue of social cohesion. Downing Street will be wary. Trump's administration has deep concerns about the state of free speech in the UK, with officials accusing Britain of 'trampling democracy' and becoming a 'hotbed of digital censorship'. The White House has 'monitored' the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for social media posts over the Southport riots, while JD Vance, the vice-president, has criticised bans on praying outside abortion clinics as infringing religious rights. Vance used his Munich Security Conference speech to claim that 'freedom of expression was 'in retreat' across Britain and wider Europe', directly singling out Online Safety Act, which comes into effect on Friday, has been a particular target of criticism with the US State Department saying that it had 'concern about the spill-over effects that impact free speech in America'. For the president, golf is a serious business and that poses some tricky challenges for Starmer, who does not play. For a start, Trump faces lingering local anger outside Aberdeen over claims he never made good on promises of lucrative development made when he bought the Menie Estate in 2006. Then there is the diplomatic headache of Trump's demand that his other Scottish course, Turnberry, host the Open championship. The British government is said to have interceded with golf's government body the R&A on this issue but will be wary of lobbying for special favours to please a foreign head of state. Unlike Finland's president Alexander Stubb, who wowed Trump with his golf prowess, Starmer has been unable to rely on his putting skills to forge a relationship. Indeed, the only cabinet minister with a serviceable golf game is said to be Lord Hermer. The attorney-general and international law enthusiast, who is unlikely to gel with the president, is not being deployed on the links.
Sky News
09-07-2025
- Business
- Sky News
Jingye and Whitehall officials hold talks over British Steel future
The Chinese owner of British Steel has held fresh talks with government officials in a bid to break the impasse over ministers' determination not to compensate it for seizing control of the company. Sky News has learnt that executives from Jingye Group met senior civil servants from the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) late last week to discuss ways to resolve the stand-off. Whitehall sources said the talks had been cordial, but that no meaningful progress had been made towards a resolution. Jingye wants the government to agree to pay it hundreds of millions of pounds for taking control of British Steel in April - a move triggered by the Chinese group's preparations for the permanent closure of its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe. Such a move would have cost thousands of jobs, and ended Britain's centuries-old ability to produce virgin steel. Jingye had been in talks for months to seek £1bn in state aid to facilitate the Scunthorpe plant's transition to greener steelmaking, but was offered just half that sum by ministers. British Steel has not yet been formally nationalised, although that remains a probable outcome. Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, has previously dismissed the idea of compensating Jingye, saying British Steel's equity was essentially worthless. Last month, he met his Chinese counterpart, where the issue of British Steel was discussed between the two governments in person for the first time. Jingye has hired the leading City law firm Linklaters to explore the recovery of hundreds of millions of pounds it invested in the Scunthorpe-based company before the government seized control of it. News of last week's meeting comes as British steelmakers face an anxious wait to learn whether their exports to the US face swingeing tariffs as part of President Donald Trump's trade war. Sky News's economics and data editor, Ed Conway, revealed this week that the UK would miss a White House-imposed deadline to agree a trade deal on steel and aluminium this week. Jingye declined to comment, while a spokesman for the Department for Business and Trade said: "We acted quickly to ensure the continued operations of the blast furnaces but recognise that securing British Steel's long-term future requires private sector investment. "We have not nationalised British Steel and are working closely with Jingye on options for the future, and we will continue work on determining the best long-term sustainable future for the site."
Mint
18-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Starmer Says US Not Targeting Steel Ownership in Trade Talks
The UK does not need to push out British Steel's Chinese owners in order to cut a deal to reduce US tariffs on steel, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said. Speaking to journalists at the G7 summit in Canada, Starmer said there was 'further work to do in relation to steel' in negotiations with President Donald Trump but that 'doesn't require us to change the ownership of British Steel.' It comes a day after Starmer and Trump announced they had finalized the details of a trade deal that will allow the UK to avoid the higher tariffs that the US is imposing on other countries. Its main terms — initially agreed to in May — gave the US greater access to the UK's beef and ethanol market in return for lower tariffs on UK steel and automobiles exported to the US. But while the two leaders on Monday agreed to implement a reduction in tariffs on UK cars from 27.5% to 10%, an exemption for Britain's civil aerospace sector from Trump's baseline 10% tariff, and for increased access to US beef and ethanol exporters, steel was left off the list. The US has demanded that the UK meet its 'requirements on the security of the supply chains of steel and aluminum' including on the 'nature of ownership' of relevant steel plants — provisions that were included in the original May agreement and the one struck this week. That had prompted speculation that the ownership of British Steel by China's Jingye Group was problematic — even though the government took operational control of struggling British Steel earlier this year. But Starmer dismissed that suggestion on Tuesday. 'There's further work to do in relation to steel, but we're getting on and doing that work, and that doesn't require us to change the ownership of British Steel,' Starmer told reporters in Kananaskis, Canada on Tuesday. He added that in the meantime, the tariff reductions for cars and aerospace will be implemented 'within days.' Last week, UK Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds told reporters in London that the real hurdle was so-called 'melt-and-pour' provisions. They've been a feature of previous trade deals with the US and demand that steel must be melted down and poured in the UK to benefit from preferential tariff rates. That's a requirement that is becoming increasingly hard for UK steel manufacturers to fulfill. British Steel owns the country's last remaining blast furnace. Tata Steel shut its down last year, and a new electric arc furnace that can create steel from scrap will not be up and running until late 2027. 'One has to remember that while the Biden administration also insisted on conditions to have steel melted and poured in exporting countries, there were also product-specific exemptions which the UK benefited from given its niche orders from US customers,' said Allie Renison, director at SEC Newgate and a former adviser to the previous government's business and trade secretary. 'In reintroducing steel tariffs, the Trump administration scrapped these so that duties also extended to derivative products, and trying to negotiate back to these or asking for an exclusion will naturally take some time.' Currently, the UK is contending with US tariffs on steel of 25%. It is the only country not to have been hit by Trump's 50% tariffs on the sector, though some manufacturers have already reported their US orders drying up. The US has said that it would exempt the UK up to a certain quota on steel imports, but that has not yet been set because technical details have held up the negotiations. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will later determine what that quota is without being subject to the 25% tariffs, a White House official said. Starmer's decision to push ahead with the automotive, beef and ethanol parts of the deal while leaving steel negotiations for later raises the risk that Trump might ask the UK to sweeten the negotiating package, Renison said. 'The US is never above trying to extract an extra pound of flesh in return - even if this is something they've already committed to in principle,' she said. Previously, the US has indicated it would like the UK to reduce or eliminate its digital services tax, charged on the revenues of search engines and social media platforms. Vice President JD Vance has also suggested that he would like to see the UK's hate speech laws relaxed. But Crawford Falconer, Britain's former top trade negotiator, said Starmer probably had very little choice but to agree to what Trump proposed. 'If there was any mistake it was over-hyping on steel to begin with,' he said. Even the Biden administration had been tough on melt-and-pour provisions, 'it's not clear why they ever thought it was in the bag.' This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Mint
17-06-2025
- Business
- Mint
Starmer, Trump Agree to Implement Tariff-Cutting Trade Deal
Prime Minister Keir Starmer reached an agreement with US President Donald Trump to implement trading terms disclosed last month to slash US tariffs on key British exports and raise UK quotas on certain American agricultural products. Trump and Starmer on Monday presented a document signed at the Group of Seven meeting in Kananaskis, Canada, agreeing to move forward on measures easing trade of cars, agricultural and aerospace products — but falling short of an immediate ease of steel tariffs, a key British ask. 'It's done and so we have our trade agreement,' Trump told reporters, while Starmer said: 'This now implements on car tariffs and aerospace, a really important agreement.' The two men provided no further immediate details, and didn't say when the new tariff levels will enter force. When in place, the deal will be the first sealed by Trump following his decision to ratchet up tariffs against countries worldwide. While the US president has also secured a trade framework with China that lowered escalating tariffs, deals with other trading partners have proved more elusive. For Starmer, reaching an agreement sheltering key industries from more aggressive tariffs before other countries is a vindication of his diplomatic approach refusing to overtly criticize Trump — but the absence of steel for now is a major blow, with a UK official saying tariffs remained at 25%. For the US president, it'll be touted as a signal that his tariff war is bearing fruit after winning UK concessions on agriculture. The deal on steel had been subject to doubt amid US concerns about Chinese ownership of British Steel. While the UK government has taken effective control of the manufacturer, its legal owner remains China's Jingye Group. On Monday, the US agreed to exempt the UK up to a certain quota that has not been set. Under the framework document published in May, the US agreed to cut tariffs on cars imported from the UK to 10% from 27.5% for the first 100,000 vehicles each year, and drop levies on steel to zero from 25%. In return, the UK vowed to increase tariff-free quotas on US beef and ethanol. With assistance from Stephanie Lai. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
