Why Starmer’s meeting with Trump is a partial win for Britain

US President Donald Trump has been a busy man. After meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday (February 24), the US president sat down with British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the White House for talks on Thursday (February 27) about Ukraine’s security, trade relations and the future of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato).

At the joint press conference following the meeting, the two leaders both said they made progress toward bringing the Ukraine-Russia war to an end. Starmer called the visit with Trump “very productive” and said they discussed a plan for peace “that is tough and fair.”

As Sir Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to the US told The Guardian that this was one of the “most consequential meetings of a British prime minister and president that we have had since the second world war”.

But what did we learn from Trump and Starmer’s talks?

Starmer’s charm offensive with a royal invite

British PM Keir Starmer may have learned a thing or two from other world leaders in their interaction with the US president, as he didn’t come empty-handed for the talks at the White House.

At the start of their meeting, Starmer pulled out an official letter from his jacket and handed it over to Trump. What was it? An invitation from King Charles to Trump for a second state visit. Speaking on the same, Starmer said, “This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented,” Starmer said.

After taking a minute to read the letter, Trump said he accepted the invite and that it would be an “honour” to visit the “fantastic” country. He added that King Charles was a “beautiful man, a wonderful man”.

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Trump, in his first term as US president, met with King Charles’ mother, Queen Elizabeth, in 2019 during a three-day state visit.

Starmer also made sure to lavish praise on Trump, saying, “You’ve created a moment of tremendous opportunity to reach a historic peace deal — a deal that I think would be celebrated in Ukraine and around the world. That is the prize. But we have to get it right.”

Change around for Trump on Ukraine

Perhaps, one of the biggest takeaways from the Trump-Starmer meeting is the softer tone that the US president adopted on the Ukraine war.

The US president didn’t repeat his ‘dictator’ charge against Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and when asked about it, Trump said, “ Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that.”

While he didn’t commit to Starmer’s demand for a security guarantee, he did indicate that the presence of American workers in Ukraine would provide a security guarantee for Ukraine because “we’ll be working there”.

“We’ll have a lot of people working and so in that sense, it’s very good,” said Trump. “It’s a backstop. You could say, I don’t think anybody’s going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers and having to do with rare earths and other things which we need for our country.”

Trump also made a reversal on his previous stance on returning land to Ukraine. Earlier, Trump had said that it was unrealistic for Ukraine to return to its pre-war borders. However, in a meeting with Starmer he said, “Well, they’ve fought long and hard on the land, and you and I will be discussing that, and we’re going to certainly try and get as much as we can back.”

In turn, Starmer speaking on the peace talks, said: “History must be on the side of the peacemaker, not the invader. So the stakes, they couldn’t be higher, and we determined to work together to deliver a good deal.”

However, Starmer, like Macron, was unable to get Trump to provide any commitment on Ukraine. Surprisingly, the British PM did get the US president to confirm his support for Nato’s Article 5, which requires all members to come to the aid of one another in case of a military attack.

“ I support it,” Trump responded when asked about it, before adding: “I don’t think we’re going to have any reason for it.”

In Putin, Trump trusts

In his talks with Starmer, Trump also said that he didn’t believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin would reinvade Ukraine if the US didn’t provide a “backstop” in the region along with European peacemakers.

Trump told Starmer that they (Trump-Putin) knew each other for a “long time” and that going through the “Russia hoax” together gave him some trust in the Russian leaders as negotiations unfold.

“I think he’ll keep his word,” Trump said of Putin.

Starmer’s win on tariffs and Chagos

Praising Starmer on his negotiating skills, Trump said he would not slap harsh tariffs on trade with the UK, saying Starmer “earned whatever the hell they pay him over there”.

“I think there’s a very good chance that, in the case of these two great friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary,” Trump said. “We’ll see.”

Such a deal, Trump said, could be made “pretty quickly”.

Starmer also scored a win as Trump said he would support the British PM’s agreement to relinquish sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, including the joint British-American base on Diego Garcia. “We’re going to have some discussions about that very soon, and I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well,” said Trump. “They’re talking about a very long-term, powerful lease, a very strong lease, about 140 years. Actually, that’s a long time, and I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country. We have to be given the details, but it doesn’t sound bad.”

With inputs from agencies