Starmer in the middle: Trump wedges British PM

London: British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has refused to back the European Union in a trade war after Donald Trump threatened to slap tariffs on exports from the bloc.

Starmer said that choosing between Brussels or Washington was not an “either/or” question, given the United Kingdom’s relations with both.

It came after Trump warned that Britain had been “out of line” in its trade with the US and described the situation with the EU as “an atrocity”.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, second right, meets with, from left, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Poland’s PM Donald Tusk and European Council President Antonio Costa during an EU summit in Brussels.Credit: AP

The US president said that Brussels could expect to be hit with trade levies “pretty soon”, sparking market turmoil on the Continent.

Starmer said that it was “early days” in discussions over Britain also falling foul of trade measures from Washington.

After a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte at the alliance’s headquarters in Brussels, Starmer avoided picking sides in the growing transatlantic spat.

“In relation to the US and the EU, or Europe more generally, if you look at our vital interests, it’s really important we work with both and don’t see it as either/or,” he said.

President Donald Trump has imposed, then paused tariffs on Canadian, and Mexican. Tariffs on Chinese goods have been announced while tariffs on the EU have been threatened.Credit: AP

“When it comes to trade, we have a huge amount of trade between the US and UK, and that’s why it’s important that I act in the national interest, the best interest of the UK as we stay resolute in saying it’s important we work with both sets of partners.”

Starmer then travelled to the Egmont Palace in Brussels, where he dined with EU leaders – with the bloc’s defence and security on the menu for discussion.

At a special summit in the Belgian capital, the bloc’s figureheads rounded on Trump’s threats of tariffs and vowed to hit back with punitive measures.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Europe should buy more domestic products in a snub to Washington, while German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned that “as a strong economic area, we can shape our own affairs and can also respond to tariff policies with tariff policies”.

On Monday, the London Telegraph revealed that the tariffs on the bloc’s exports to the US could be as high as 10 per cent.

In March 2018, during his first term in office, Trump hit European aluminium exports with 10 per cent levies and steel with 25 per cent.

Brussels retaliated by targeting symbolic US products, such as Levi’s jeans, Harley-Davidson motorcycles and bourbon whiskey, with similar measures.

EU officials have drawn up similar contingency measures in the face of the latest threats by Trump.

The refusal by Starmer to back Brussels in the trade spat will complicate his attempts to secure a post-Brexit reset in relations.

Over dinner, he pitched an EU-UK defence pact spanning military mobility, research and development, industrial collaboration and joint missions to protect critical undersea infrastructure.

“We will be more successful in building the European defence sector and contributing more to our own defence if we work together,” he told EU leaders.

“We are ready to work together in all these ways and more,” he added, in a further appeal for closer ties between Brussels and Britain.

Before the meeting, he told reporters: “We can’t be commentators when it comes to matters of peace on our continent. We must lead, and that’s what I’m determined that we will do.”

Writing for Telegraph, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK government’s Brexit point man as secretary for Constitution and European Union relations, argued that the reset was not about Britain turning its back on the US for Brussels.

“This is not about a choice between our allies. Some people make the false argument that we need to choose either America or Europe. For this government, the UK’s national interest is paramount and demands we work with both,” he said.

“The UK standing tall on the international stage, delivering for people by working with one of our key partners, matters. This is making Brexit work for my constituency and for the country.

Thomas-Symonds will remain in Brussels to kick off negotiations with Maros Sefcovic, his counterpart in the European Commission, on Wednesday.

The Telegraph, London