President Donald Trump will begin his second state visit to the United Kingdom on Wednesday. He will stay at Windsor Castle, King Charles III‘s royal residence just outside London. The president will be feted with military parades and an extravagant banquet. These will minister to his taste for grand shows of his power and the respect of others.
But it will not be all pomp and circumstance. There will be extensive talks between Trump, his team, and the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s government. Trump’s two priorities should be to boost U.S.-U.K. economic and scientific ties and cooperation against China.
The prospect for valuable new collaboration is apparent. It was announced on Monday that a U.S. nuclear energy firm will join a British counterpart to build modular nuclear reactors in northern England. As the Washington Examiner’s Christian Datoc reports, this deal is designed to boost Britain’s power base and reduce the country’s high energy costs, while meeting surging demand from artificial intelligence, and to reduce London’s dependence on indirect supplies of Russian energy.
Starmer will be keen to secure cooperation in sensitive military and civilian research related to AI, quantum computing, and other advanced research areas. This is possible. Close U.S.-U.K. military and intelligence cooperation offers an example of bold action. The fusion of the two countries’ signals intelligence agencies, the NSA and GCHQ, already enables cutting-edge collaboration in new areas of science and technology.
Another focus should be on reducing trade barriers. The United States and the U.K. reached a deal this year that brought some positive developments, including for U.S. agricultural exporters. But it retained a 10% tariff on U.K. exports to the U.S. This undermines the special relationship by fostering U.K. public anger. And it does not serve U.S. interests because America runs a trade surplus with Britain, $11.4 billion in 2024. Both countries would benefit from lower barriers to competition and easier business engagement. Trump should remember that the best political-economic deals are founded at the intersection of mutual benefit and trust.
Trump’s second state visit to Britain should focus on how the two can deal with China together.
The Chinese Communist Party poses the preeminent threat to global freedom and prosperity in the 21st century. Trump has sent mixed signals in recent weeks about whether he wants to tolerate increased Chinese aggression against Taiwan and the Philippines in return for boosted economic cooperation. Xi Jinping is committed to destroying the U.S.-led international order of sovereign nations engaging in relatively free trade bound by the rule of law. He wants feudal mercantilism in which Beijing controls the energy under the oceans, the critical minerals under the Earth, trade routes around the globe, and in which nations must provide fealty to Beijing in return for the right to trade and engage with other nations. If Xi is successful, America, Britain, and the free world will become less free and less prosperous.
Since entering office last year, Starmer’s government has had a concerning tendency to downplay China’s threat in the hope of boosting Chinese investment into the U.K. While more U.S.-U.K. trade would help address this issue at the margin, Trump must tell Starmer that the special relationship cannot coexist with London deferring to Beijing. By 2030, the U.S. may be engaged with China in the bloodiest naval and air conflict since World War II.
It’s a problem that America’s closest ally is considering allowing Beijing to establish a vast spy base in its capital. And that Starmer seems reluctant to call out Chinese malevolence in cyberspace, repression in Hong Kong, and aggression in the East China and South China Seas. The endurance of the special relationship requires more than intelligence efforts targeting China. Starmer should be cautious. As President Emmanuel Macron of France has found, excessive efforts to woo the CCP end up not with win-win cooperation, but with embarrassing submission.
Trump must be diplomatic and save criticisms of Starmer and his policies for private settings.
The Trump administration’s concern with the U.K.’s restrictive laws on free speech is legitimate. Starmer’s government has also failed to address surging government spending, ruinous tax rates, and an accelerating capital flight. Growing tensions over immigration and cultural values have boosted Starmer’s opposition, the Reform Party, and its leader, Nigel Farage, who is close to Trump. Starmer is not required to call a general election before 2029, but Farage would almost certainly become the next prime minister were he to do so today.
If Trump publicly criticizes Starmer during a visit hosted by the British monarch, he would deeply offend British sensibilities, undermine diplomatic efforts, and weaken the foundation of trust that underpins the U.S.-U.K. special relationship.
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There is an opportunity for significant political, economic, and defensive dividends from this visit. Trump likes the U.K. and its great wartime leader, Winston Churchill, and the late Queen Elizabeth II. Starmer and Trump have forged a good working relationship. Britain has always proven itself to be America’s closest ally throughout the modern era.
Trump should embrace the pageantry and protocol at Windsor Castle while maintaining a clear eye to the long-term political ingredients necessary to keep this relationship special.