Starmer and Trump to hold ‘one-on-one' talks at G7
Keir Starmer confirmed today that he will hold one-to-one talks with Donald Trump this week as he seeks to pressure the erratic president to seal a UK/US trade deal. The Prime Minister said that the agreement will be top of the agenda when he sits down with Trump at the G7 in Canada. Sir Keir insisted the deal would be done 'very soon' amid reluctance on the US side to sign off the finished version of a framework unveiled six weeks ago.
It will see British tariffs on steel and automotive exports to the US slashed in exchange for greater access to the UK for some American goods. However, the White House said the meeting would be an informal 'pull aside' rather than full bilateral talks. Speaking at the resort of Kananaskis in Alberta, Sir Keir insisted the deal was in the 'final stages'.
'I'll be discussing that with President Trump, along with another number of other things', he said. 'I'll be having a one-on-one with him. I think I'm seeing him on a number of occasions today, because we're in all of the sessions together.
'So I'll be having a lot of conversations with President Trump, but we will be talking about our trade deal, because the trade deal, because that really matters for the vital sectors that are safeguarded under our deal, and so we've got to implement that now.'
Sir Keir and Ukrainian president Zelensky will this week try to pressure Donald Trump to hit Russia with fresh sanctions if Vladimir Putin continues to resist calls for an unconditional ceasefire in Ukraine. The Prime Minister said targeting Moscow with further action would 'undoubtedly' form part of talks at the international summit this week unless the Kremlin engages in peace talks.
Mr Zelensky is expected to attend the conference in Canada , where leaders from the world's major economies are descending on a luxury mountain lodge in the Rockies for talks on global security. Sir Keir faces a busy week of diplomacy with spiralling conflict in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine top of the agenda in the talks between leaders from Canada, the US, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain.
It comes as the Foreign Office advised against all travel to Israel following further retaliatory attacks by Iran. Downing Street has not ruled out moving to evacuate UK nationals from the country if the situation deteriorates.
In his first bilateral meeting at the summit, the Prime Minister and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni reiterated their 'enduring support' for Kyiv. '(They agreed) that it is a topic of our common security that they looked forward to discussing in the next two days,' a Downing Street readout said, describing the conference as coming at a 'vitally important moment for the world'.
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