Keir Starmer has managed to captivate Donald Trump. After two days of royal pomp and circumstance at Windsor Castle, the British Prime Minister and the US President closed the latter's second State visit to the UK with a press conference where an incredibly friendly Trump avoided any kind of confrontation with his host, despite the political and personal differences between them. The appearance took place at Chequers, the country residence where British Prime Ministers usually go to rest, to avoid Trump having to go to London, where he would be met with protests that have led both the Financial Times and Bloomberg news agency to dub this State visit as "pomp and protests."
The visit was also marked by the signing of the so-called Technology Prosperity Agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, which lays the groundwork for both countries to jointly develop cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and quantum computing, although its practical development is uncertain. Shortly before the press conference, a series of American companies and funds had committed to investing £31 billion (¤35.647 billion) in the UK, in projects that are not yet decided.
The US President avoided confrontation even on issues where Washington and London openly disagree, such as the recognition of the Palestinian state, with a diplomatic "I disagree with the Prime Minister on that. It is one of the few disagreements we have." According to Bloomberg news agency, now that Trump has left, London's recognition of Palestine could be imminent. Starmer stated that both "we totally agree on the need for a roadmap for peace" and assured that London and Washington are "working on a joint peace plan," which had not been mentioned before and on which he did not provide further details or was questioned by journalists.
But there are many more disagreements. Trump is ideologically aligned with the British ultra leader Nigel Farage, and although Starmer has managed to at least not mention him, the ideas of the US President on issues such as immigration are far from those advocated by the two major British parties - the Conservative and Labour parties. Thus, the President stated that, to contain the flow of undocumented immigrants, "I told the Prime Minister that I would stop it. And it doesn't matter if you use the army, no matter what means are used, but [illegal migration] will destroy the country from within."
Trump also admitted that his policy of appeasing Russia in Ukraine has not yielded results, although he did not announce any additional measures of pressure against Moscow, and implied that what happens in the war is not a problem for the United States. It became clear that he and Starmer also do not agree, although they avoided stating it explicitly.
The US President admitted - something unusual for him - a failure when he said, "really, Putin has let me down" regarding Ukraine, which has been "my worst disappointment," supposedly since he returned to the White House in January. Of course, he immediately insisted that he had no doubt that he had done the right thing when he invited the Russian dictator to meet with him in Alaska a month ago. However, Trump does not consider taking any action to increase pressure on Russia. The US Head of State and Government reiterated one of the arguments that the Kremlin has been using for three and a half years to defend the invasion: "This is a war that can lead to World War III, and I don't think you want that. It is a war that is heading towards World War III." However, ultimately, Trump does not care about what happens in Ukraine. As he himself said, "It doesn't affect the United States, and, look, it doesn't affect you much either," addressing Starmer, "although you are closer, but we have a whole ocean separating us."
Trump's solution is for others to bear the cost of stopping Russian aggression. He reiterated this at Chequers. "If the price of oil drops, Putin will back off [from the war]," said Trump. His new plan, announced last week through his preferred diplomatic medium - a social media post - is for the European Union to stop buying oil and gas from Russia and impose tariffs on the two main customers of Moscow's energy products: India and China. "I am willing to do other things, but not while the people I am defending are buying oil from Russia," he concluded.
This proposal, in practice, is a way to block any sanctions against Russia. The two main buyers of Russian energy in Europe are Hungary and the Czech Republic, two countries led by pro-Trump and pro-Putin governments, so the US President should be the one to call on his allies to convey this message. Additionally, the EU operates on unanimity, and both Sofia and Prague can block any attempt by Brussels to prevent the purchase of Russian oil. Finally, imposing tariffs on Beijing and Delhi would mean that the EU is joining Trump's trade war against these two emerging powers without receiving more than a vague promise of those "other things" that the White House tenant claims to be willing to do.
True to his tradition, Trump inflated figures at his whim: he multiplied by five the aid that Washington has given to Ukraine and claimed that "millions and millions of soldiers" have died in the war between that country and Russia. Finally, he once again mentioned the magic number of the seven wars that, according to him, he has stopped since January, including - for the third consecutive time - the alleged conflict between Albania and Azerbaijan, a war that Trump has not been able to end because it never started, given that both countries are 2,500 kilometers apart from each other, the same distance that separates, for example, Spain from Iceland. Presumably, the US President meant "Armenia," but for some reason, he always says "Albania." Trump also took the opportunity during the press conference to publicly state for the first time that he wants control of Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, in exchange for which, he hinted, he could recognize the Taliban fundamentalist regime, something that had been formulated in private by his advisors but had never been part of US policy.