UK’s Starmer says no need to choose between US and EU
BRITISH Prime Minister Keir Starmer insisted in a keynote speech on Monday that Britain will be able to ally with both a Donald Trump-led United States and its European neighbours.
The Labour premier has spent much of his first five months in power trying to repair relations with the EU following Britain’s acrimonious departure from the bloc under the previous Conservative government.
But Trump’s victory in last month’s US presidential election has raised fears that the Republican could complicate Starmer’s so-called reset, particularly if he starts a trade war with the European Union.
“The idea that we must choose between our allies, that somehow we’re with either America or Europe is plain wrong. I reject it utterly,” Starmer told the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in central London.
During the US election campaign, Trump complained that the European Union was a “mini China” as he criticised the US trade relationship with the bloc.
Last week he announced tariffs of between 10 and 25 per cent on imports from China, Mexico and Canada and is expected to make a similar move against EU goods.
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“(Clement) Attlee did not choose between allies. (Winston) Churchill did not choose. The national interest demands that we work with both,” said Starmer, citing Britain’s post-World War II leader and wartime predecessor.
Labour is historically close to the Democratic Party but has gone to considerable lengths in recent months to try to build bridges with Trump’s team, and Starmer dined for two hours with Trump in September.
Previous critical comments by senior Labour figures of Trump, and the presence of Starmer critic Elon Musk in Trump’s administration could make for a bumpy ride between the allies though.
Starmer stressed in his speech that Britain would “never turn away from” its special relationship with the United States, pledging “even closer ties with the US”.
“This is not about sentimentality. It is about hard-headed realism,” he said in the speech dedicated to foreign policy.
“Time and again the best hope for the world and the surest way to serve our mutual national interest has come from our two nations working together. It still does,” he said.
Starmer also reiterated again that the UK would support Ukraine in its almost three-year war against Russia’s invasion “as long as it takes”.
He repeated his government’s intention to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP, above Nato’s target of two per cent, and urged European countries to follow suit.
“It is vital that all European nations step up to protect our shared future,” Starmer said. AFP
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