The Prime Minister is hopeful that a trip to Scotland this summer to meet the King will be enough to secure a trade deal with the US after the President revealed his latest tariffs.
The White House have been presented with two ‘windows’ for when Donald Trump could visit the UK: either in June or, more likely, between late August and early September.
King Charles would then host the President at Balmoral Castle and have a round of golf at Mr Trump’s Turnberry resort, according to provisional details that were reported in The Telegraph.
The US President was invited to make an unprecedented second state visit to Britain this year when Sir Keir Starmer presented Trump with a letter from the King in the Oval Office in February.
‘He’s a beautiful man, a wonderful man, and we appreciate it. I’ve known him, gotten to know him very well actually, first term and now second term,’ Trump said of King Charles.
Although the trip is not directly linked to diplomatic efforts to improve tariffs between the UK and the US, some Whitehall officials are crossing their fingers that the royal itinerary makes way for constructive talks.
Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK products is set to come into force today, as global stock markets have continued to fall in response to the imposition of import taxes, with the FTSE 100 suffering its sharpest drop since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Nearly £175 billion has been wiped off the UK stock market in just a week – hammering the pensions and savings of millions.
Sir Keir Starmer is hopeful that a trip to Scotland this summer to meet the King will be enough to secure a trade deal with the US after the President revealed his latest tariffs
Although the trip is not directly linked to diplomatic efforts to improve tariffs between the UK and the US, some Whitehall officials are crossing their fingers that the royal itinerary makes way for constructive talks
The punishing rout, which was echoed from Wall Street to Asia, came after Mr Trump slapped drastic tariffs on trading partners, fuelling fears of a worldwide recession. Analysts warned that the rout threatened to scupper retirement plans for those hoping to claim their pension within the next few years.
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to spend the weekend speaking to foreign leaders about the tariffs, after calls with the prime ministers of Australia and Italy on Friday in which the leaders agreed that a trade war would be ‘extremely damaging’.
But the US President had earlier bizarrely claimed that Keir Starmer was ‘very happy’ with the brutal tariffs he had imposed on Britain.
Speaking outside Air Force One overnight before flying to Florida, Mr Trump said Sir Keir had taken the tariffs ‘really well’.
He said, when initially asked if he had given his approval to Starmer’s Chagos Islands deal: ‘We are talking to the Prime Minister about it [chagos deal] and we will see how that turns out.
‘We have a very good dialogue and I think he was very happy about how we treated them on tariffs.’
He shrugged off the meltdown on financial markets, telling reporters: ‘The markets are going to boom, the stock is going to boom, the country’s going to boom and the rest of the world wants to see is there any way we can make a deal.
‘They’ve taken advantage of us for many, many years. Many years we’ve been on the wrong side of the ball and I tell you what, I think it’s going to be unbelievable.’
The UK’s blue chip index was down 4.86 per cent at the close after an extraordinary international bloodbath
The ‘baseline’ 10% US tariff on goods imported from around the world is due to come into effect shortly after 5am on Saturday UK time.
Many other countries will see their tariff rates increase above that next week – including the EU which will be hit with a 20% rate. A 25% tariff imposed on all foreign cars imported into the US came into effect on Thursday.
Trading across the world has been hammered in the aftermath of the President’s announcement at the White House on Wednesday.
London’s top stock market index shed 419.75 points, or 4.95%, to close at 8,054.98 on Friday, the biggest single-day decline since March 2020 when the index lost more than 600 points in one day. The Dow Jones fell 5.5% on Friday as China matched Mr Trump’s tariff rate.
Beijing said it would respond with its own 34% tariff on imports of all US products from April 10.
Mr Trump swiped at ‘panicking’ Beijing, writing on his Truth Social site: ‘CHINA PLAYED IT WRONG, THEY PANICKED – THE ONE THING THEY CANNOT AFFORD TO DO!’
He also posted a video suggesting that he was ‘purposely crashing the markets’ and was playing ‘chess while everyone else is playing checkers’.
All but one stock on the FTSE 100 fell on Friday, with Rolls-Royce, banks and miners among those to suffer the sharpest losses.
Donald Trump’s 10% tariff on UK products is set to come into force today, as global stock markets have continued to fall in response to the imposition of import taxes
Downing Street said that Sir Keir spoke to Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese and Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, and had ‘been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest’.
Issuing a read-out of their separate conversations on Friday, Number 10 said the leaders ‘all agreed that an all-out trade war would be extremely damaging’.
A spokesperson said the PM ‘has been clear the UK’s response will be guided by the national interest’ and officials will ‘calmly continue with our preparatory work, rather than rush to retaliate’.
‘He discussed this approach with both leaders, acknowledging that while the global economic landscape has shifted this week, it has been clear for a long time that like-minded countries must maintain strong relationships and dialogue to ensure our mutual security and maintain economic stability,’ the spokesperson added.
It is expected that Sir Keir will take further calls with counterparts over the weekend.
Ministers have so far avoided criticism of Mr Trump as they seek to secure a trade agreement with America which they hope could secure some exemption from the tariffs.
However, the Government has drawn up a list of products that could be hit in retaliation, and is consulting with businesses on how any counter measures could impact them.
Rachel Reeves said on Friday that the Government is ‘determined to get the best deal we can’ with Washington.
Trump’s state visit could include a trip to Balmoral Castle and a game of golf on his Turnberry resort (pictured here in 2023)
‘Of course, we don’t want to see tariffs on UK exports, and we’re working hard as a government in discussion with our counterparts in the US to represent the British national interest and support British jobs and British industry,’ the Chancellor said.
The Liberal Democrats have said that the Government’s ‘attempts to appease the White House’ are not working, and called on ministers to coordinate a response with allies.
Calum Miller said in a statement: ‘We need to end this trade war as quickly as possible, but the Government’s attempts to appease the White House and its offers to cut taxes on US tech billionaires simply aren’t working.
‘Instead, the best way to end this crisis is to stand shoulder to shoulder with our European and Commonwealth friends. We must coordinate our response and strengthen our trading relations with our reliable allies. That’s how we can protect our economy from Trump’s bullying.’
But Downing Street’s private strategy is to use Mr Trumps’ love for the royal family and his passion for Scotland as a way to stay close.
This request by the King would be the first time an elected leader in recent history is invited twice for a state visit, his first being during his previous presidential term.
The Foreign Office are said to believe that the President will be spending time at his Mar-a-Lago Florida resort during July, so dates in June or August for a visit are being discussed.
However, June may be unlikely as the King’s diary is often then with both Royal Ascot and Trooping the Colour.
Balmoral Castle also closes on August 11th this year for the King’s arrival for his summer residency where he is expected to remain until early September.
