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The stakes of the Trump-Starmer summit

Ahead of the looming tariff deadline, will the US president and UK prime minister hammer out a deal in Scotland?

    • US President Donald Trump speaking to Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a Nato summit in June. Starmer will hope to seize opportunities in the bilateral relationship while managing the risks posed by Trump's notable volatility.
    • US President Donald Trump speaking to Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a Nato summit in June. Starmer will hope to seize opportunities in the bilateral relationship while managing the risks posed by Trump's notable volatility. PHOTO: REUTERS
    Published Thu, Jul 24, 2025 · 06:00 AM

    DONALD Trump heads to Scotland this Friday (Jul 25) for a four-day trip to visit his two golf resorts. Yet, while the visit is being billed as largely a private one, there is much public business that could be transacted, including potential US presidential announcements about reciprocal tariffs due to be levied across much of the world from Aug 1.

    The key scheduled public focus of the trip will be Trump’s summit with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, their fourth meeting this year. The two met at the White House in February, at the G7 in Canada in June, and also at the Nato summit in the Netherlands later that same month.

    Top of the agenda for Trump and Starmer will be an attempt to finalise the US-UK tariffs deal package that has taken weeks of negotiations already. In particular, Starmer wants an agreement that exempts UK steel exports to the US from Trump’s sectoral tariff regime for steel.

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