Asked by POLITICO at a White House press conference whether Starmer had persuaded him not to put tariffs on the U.K., Trump said: “He tried. He was working hard. I’ll tell you, he earned whatever the hell they pay him over there, but he tried.”
And he added: “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. We’ll see.”
A full-fat free trade agreement between the U.K. and U.S. has long eluded negotiators, with talks foundering over hot-button issues like food safety standards and corporate access to the U.K.’s publicly funded health service. However, British officials have been pushing for a tech-focused deal that wouldn’t get similarly bogged down.
Trump said that “in all seriousness, I think we have a very good chance at arriving at a very good deal,” and made clear his vice-president JD Vance — with whom Starmer had sparred in the Oval Office just hours before — was among the people working on a deal “that could be terrific, really terrific for both countries.”
“We’re the only two Western countries with trillion dollar tech sectors — leaders in AI,” Starmer said as he stood beside Trump Thursday. “So we’ve decided today to go further to begin work on a new economic deal with advanced technology at its core.”
The U.K. wants collaboration in developing critical technologies, including AI.