Donald Trump has suggested that Sir Keir Starmer could visit the US “very soon”, following an unplanned phone call on Thursday in which they discussed a “forthcoming” visit.
Any visit would come in challenging circumstances as the US has deviated from its Western allies’ stance on Ukraine and Nato, and there are questions in the air about possible US tariffs for the UK.
Speaking to reporters from the White House on Friday, Trump said of his call: “He asked for a meeting and I agreed to the meeting, we’re going to have a friendly meeting, very good.
“We have a lot of good things going on. But he asked to come and see me and I just accepted his asking.”
Responding to further questions about a date, he added: “Very soon, I think he wants to come next week or the week after.”
Europe will be the downfall of Donald Trump
Read MoreEarlier on Friday Downing Street said that Starmer and the president discussed “his forthcoming visit to the US” in a phone call on Thursday.
In what is understood to have been an impromptu call from Trump, while Starmer was meeting Mark Burnett, Washington’s special envoy to the UK, the pair also touched on the special relationship between the UK and the US.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “Mr Burnett and the Prime Minister agreed on the unique and special nature of the UK-US relationship, the strength of our alliance and the warmth of the connection between the two countries.”
A photograph of the meeting posted by the US embassy showed Starmer speaking to the president while at the dinner table in 10 Downing Street alongside Mr Burnett and American charge d’affaires Matthew Palmer.
Starmer and Trump met at Trump Tower in New York ahead of the US election.
Their meeting in September came as the Prime Minister was in the American city for the UN General Assembly.
In his comments to reporters on Friday, Trump claimed that the pair had met “twice” and he also described Starmer as a “very nice guy”.
The proposed trip comes as the UK faces the looming threat of trade tariffs set by the United States, as well as potential tensions over the war in Ukraine and the UK’s Chagos Islands deal.
Trump has said he plans to impose “reciprocal tariffs” on all countries who add extra costs to US goods.
UK could be hit with tariffs of up to 24% as Trump targets VAT
Read MoreThe impact of Thursday’s announcement on the UK was not immediately clear, but the policy published by the White House included VAT as a target for reciprocal tariffs.
Trump’s vice president JD Vance has been in Munich for a security conference where he met Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Friday and discussed the conflict.
Separately at the conference he criticised the UK over a legal case in which a former serviceman who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre.
In a wider attack on what he suggested is a shift away from democratic values across Europe, Vance claimed the “basic liberties of religious Britons, in particular” are under threat.
He referred to the conviction of Adam Smith-Connor, 51, who had denied doing so but was found guilty last year of failing to comply with a public space protection order at the centre in Bournemouth in November 2022.
Meanwhile, allies of Trump have expressed scepticism over the UK’s proposed deal with Mauritius, which would hand over sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory but lease back the strategically important Diego Garcia military base which is used by the US.
Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam revealed earlier this week that the US administration will have a seat at talks over the islands’ future.
A Mauritian government statement said Ramgoolam had used a speech to affirm that the country had “shown openness and willingness to find common ground by accepting the presence of a representative from the new administration in the United States of America in the negotiations so as to further strengthen the process”.
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