Sir Keir Starmer will meet Donald Trump in Scotland today as he hopes to strike a deal on steel tariffs and sway the US President over Gaza.
The Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where Mr Trump is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for face-to-face talks on Monday.
The two leaders will discuss how to continue putting into place the US-UK trade deal they signed earlier this year, as well as the Middle East crisis.
Sir Keir and the US President struck a trade agreement to reduce tariffs on car and aerospace imports.
Yet questions remain over whether UK steel imports into America will face 50 per cent tariffs.
Speaking to reporters as he left the White House on Friday, Mr Trump said he and Sir Keir would be ‘fine-tuning’ the US-UK trade deal when they meet in Scotland.
But he downplayed the prospect on an agreement on steel, warning there was ‘not a lot’ of wiggle room on steel tariffs.
The PM’s meeting with Mr Trump also comes amid growing global outrage at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while peace talks between Hamas and Israel came to a standstill last week.
The Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where Donald Trump is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for face-to-face talks with the US President
Mr Trump is pictured playing a round of golf at Trump Turnberry on Sunday during his visit to Scotland
Sir Keir will meet with Mr Trump after travelling back from Switzerland, where the PM watched the Lionesses win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 final against Spain
White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blamed Hamas for a ‘lack of desire’ to reach an agreement.
Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians.
But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, has said that access to supplies must be ‘urgently’ widened.
Sir Keir is under increasing pressure from MPs and even his own ministers to recognise Palestinian statehood.
It comes after French President Emmanuel Macron said his country will do so in September.
Some 221 MPs from Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, SNP, Greens, Plaid Cymru, SDLP and independents have signed a letter pressuring the Government to follow suit at a UN meeting next week.
The majority of those who have signed, 131, are Labour MPs.
The US is the country ‘with the leverage’ to make a difference in the conflict in Gaza, the Business Secretary suggested this morning.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast ahead of Sir Keir’s meeting with Mr Trump, Jonathan Reynolds said: ‘Of course, Gaza will be on the agenda today.
‘The intolerable scenes that we’re seeing, the world is seeing, are the backdrop to that.
‘And of course, the US has itself secured on two occasions ceasefires in the conflict, so they have been actively engaged in it, working with Egypt, the Qataris, and other key partners in the region.
‘The US is the country I think we’d all recognise with the leverage here to really make a difference on both sides. So their role is fundamentally important.’
Mr Reynolds also admitted there is ‘more to do’ on the US-UK trade deal, but played down the prospect of a fresh announcement later.
He said: ‘We were very happy to announce the breakthrough that we had a few months ago in relation to sectors like automotive, aerospace, which are really important to the UK economy.
‘But we always said it was job saved, but it wasn’t job done. There’s more to do.
‘The negotiations have been going on on a daily basis since then. There’s a few issues to push a little bit further today.
‘We won’t perhaps have anything to announce a resolution of those talks.
‘But there’s some sectors that we still need to resolve, particularly around steel and aluminium, and there’s the wider conversation about what the US calls its reciprocal tariffs.’
Security forces are pictured at the Trump Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire
Mr Trump’s private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September
Mr Trump said he and Sir Keir would talk about trade and Israel
The US-UK agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries.
But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25 per cent rather than falling to zero as originally agreed.
Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50 per cent – the US’s global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America’s trading partners.
But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel.
Sir Keir and Mr Trump are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Downign Street said would include ‘applying pressure’ on Vladimir Putin to end the invasion.
Speaking to journalists on Sunday about his meeting with Sir Keir, Mr Trump said: ‘We’re meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it’s been a great deal.
‘It’s good for us. It’s good for them and good for us. I think the UK is very happy, they’ve been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it’s a great trade deal for both, works out very well.
‘We’ll be discussing that. I think we’re going to be discussing a lot about Israel. They’re very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen.
‘He’s doing a very good job, by the way.’
Mr Trump’s private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September.
