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The Independent
19 minutes ago
- The Independent
Trump visit live: Starmer to push US president to resume role in Gaza ceasefire talks
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to press Donald Trump on the revival of ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas as the UK joins efforts to airdrop aid into Gaza. The prime minister will travel to meet the US president during his visit to Scotland amid mounting global anger over the humanitarian conditions in the war-torn enclave. Ceasefire talks in Qatar ground to a standstill this week after America and Israel withdrew negotiating teams from the country, with US special envoy Steve Witkoff accusing Hamas of a 'lack of desire' to reach an agreement. The deal under discussion was expected to include a 60-day ceasefire, and aid supplies would be ramped up as conditions for a lasting truce were brokered. Sir Keir will raise Washington's work with partners in Qatar and Egypt during his talks with Mr Trump and seek to discuss what more can be done to urgently bring about a ceasefire, it is understood. They will also discuss the recently agreed US-UK trade deal and the war in Ukraine.
STV News
19 minutes ago
- STV News
Starmer to raise Gaza ceasefire and UK steel tariffs in Trump meeting
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to raise the prospect of reviving ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and the future of tariffs on British steel as he meets Donald Trump in Scotland. The Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international alarm grows over starvation in Gaza. The two leaders have built a rapport on the world stage despite their differing political backgrounds, with Trump praising Starmer for doing a 'very good job' in office ahead of their talks on Monday. But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting. PA Media The US president has been playing golf at his Turnberry resort in Scotland (PA). Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after Washington and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a 'lack of desire' to reach an agreement. Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians. But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, has said that access to supplies must be 'urgently' widened. In his talks with Trump, Starmer will 'welcome the President's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza', Number 10 said. 'He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.' The leaders will also talk 'one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries', it said. The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries. But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed. Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50% – the US's global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners. But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel. Downing Street said that both sides are working 'at pace' to 'go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic' and to give UK industry 'the security it needs'. The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include 'applying pressure' on Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen. It comes after Trump announced he had agreed 'the biggest deal ever made' between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry on Sunday. After a day playing golf, the US leader met the President of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15% tariffs on most of its goods entering America. This is lower than a 30% levy previously threatened by the US president. The agreement will include 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (£558 billion) over three years. Speaking to journalists on Sunday about his meeting with Starmer, Trump said: 'We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal. 'It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us. I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well. 'We'll be discussing that. I think we're going to be discussing a lot about Israel. 'They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen. 'He's doing a very good job, by the way.' Trump's private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
The Guardian
20 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Australia won't receive Aukus nuclear submarines unless US doubles shipbuilding, admiral warns
The US cannot sell any Virginia-class nuclear submarines to Australia without doubling its production rate, because it is making too few for its own defence, the navy's nominee for chief of operations has told Congress. There are 'no magic beans' to boosting the US's sclerotic shipbuilding capacity, Admiral Daryl Caudle said in frank evidence before a Senate committee. The US's submarine fleet numbers are a quarter below their target, US government figures show, and the country is producing boats at just over half the rate it needs to service its own defence requirements. Testifying before the Senate Committee on Armed Services as part of his confirmation process to serve as the next chief of naval operations, Caudle lauded Royal Australian Navy sailors as 'incredible submariners', but said the US would not be able to sell them any boats – as committed under the Aukus pact – without a '100% improvement' on shipbuilding rates. The US Navy estimates it needs to be building Virginia-class submarines at a rate of 2.00 a year to meet its own defence requirements, and about 2.33 to have enough boats to sell any to Australia. It is currently building Virginia-class submarines at a rate of about 1.13 a year, senior admirals say. 'Australia's ability to conduct undersea warfare is not in question,' Caudle said, 'but as you know the delivery pace is not what it needs to be to make good on the pillar one of the Aukus agreement which is currently under review by our defence department'. Caudle said efficiency gains or marginal improvements would not be sufficient to 'make good on the actual pact that we made with the UK and Australia, which is … around 2.2 to 2.3 Virginia-class submarines per year'. 'That is going to require a transformational improvement; not a 10% improvement, not a 20% improvement but a 100% improvement,' he said. Sign up: AU Breaking News email Under pillar one of the Aukus agreement, Australia is scheduled to buy between three and five Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US, starting in 2032. The UK will build the first Aukus-class submarine for its navy by 'the late 2030s'. The first Australian-built Aukus boat will be in the water 'in the early 2040s'. Aukus is forecast to cost Australia up to $368bn over 30 years. US goodwill towards Australia, or the import of the US-alliance, would be irrelevant to any decision to sell submarines: Aukus legislation prohibits the US selling Australia any submarine if that would weaken US naval strength. Australia has already paid $1.6bn out of an expected total of $4.7bn (US$3bn) to help the US boost its flagging shipbuilding industry. But the US itself has been pouring money into its shipbuilding yards, without noticeable effect. A joint statement on 'the state of nuclear shipbuilding' issued by three rear admirals in April noted that while Congress had committed an additional US$5.7bn to lift wages and shipyard productivity, 'we have not observed the needed and expected ramp-up in Columbia-class and Virginia-class submarine production rates necessary'. Caudle, himself a career submariner, said the US would need 'creativity, ingenuity, and some outsourcing improvements' if it were to meet its shipbuilding demands and produce 2.3 Virginia-class vessels a year. 'There are no magic beans to that,' he told the Senate hearing. 'There's nothing that's just going to make that happen. So the solution space has got to open up.' The former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who first reported on Caudle's testimony to the Senate, told the Guardian that there was 'no shortage of goodwill towards Australia' from the US in relation to Aukus, but the realities of a shortfall of submarines meant there was a 'very, very high' probability that Virginia-class submarines would never arrive under Australian control. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Turnbull said the language coming from US naval experts was 'framing expectations realistically', essentially saying that, without dramatic reform, the US could not sell any of its Virginia-class boats. With the Collins class nearing the end of their service lives, and the Aukus submarine design and build facing delays in the UK, Australia could be left without any submarine capability for a decade, potentially two, Turnbull argued. 'The risk of us not getting any Virginia-class submarines is – objectively – very, very high. The real question is why is the government not acknowledging that … and why is there no plan B? What are they doing to acquire alternative capabilities in the event of the Virginias not arriving?' Turnbull – who, as prime minister, had signed the diesel-electric submarine deal with French giant Naval that was unilaterally abandoned in favour of the Aukus agreement in 2021 – argued the Australian government, parliament and media had failed to properly interrogate the Aukus deal. 'When you compare the candour and the detail of the disclosure that the US Congress gets from the Department of the Navy, and the fluff we get here, it's a disgrace. Our parliament has the most at stake, but is the least curious, and the least informed. On Friday, the defence minister, Richard Marles, told reporters in Sydney 'work on Aukus continues apace'. 'We continue to work very closely … with the United States in progressing the optimal pathway to Australia acquiring a nuclear-powered submarine capability,' he said. 'In respect of the production and maintenance schedule in the United States, we continue to make our financial contributions to that industrial base.' Marles cited the $1.6bn paid to the US to boost its shipbuilding industry already this year, with further payments to come, and said that 120 Australian tradespeople were currently working on sustaining Virginia-class submarines in Pearl Harbor. 'All of that work continues and we are really confident that the production rates will be raised in America, which is very much part of the ambition of Aukus.' The Guardian put a series of questions to Marles's office about Caudle's Senate testimony.
