Starmer Nods To ‘Tensions’ With Trump In Talks With EU

Keir Starmer has alluded to his ongoing tensions with Donald Trump after the US president threatened to withdraw American troops from Europe.

The prime minister spoke his EU allies during a meeting with the European Political Community in Armenia about increasing defence spending.

Starmer announced that the UK is currently in discussions to be joining the EU’s £78 billion loan scheme for Ukraine.

The PM said the scheme will help increase jobs in the UK, improve UK-EU relations and help Ukraine as the war against Russia rumbles on.

Starmer is hoping to reset relations with the EU just as Trump continues to cause upset with his Nato allies.

The White House has decided to withdraw 5,000 US troops from Germany amid Trump’s ongoing feud with German chancellor Friedrich Merz.

The president has also attacked Starmer personally in recent months over the UK’s refusal to get involved with the Iran war.

The prime minister then gave a nod with this ongoing friction with Trump while discussing the new scheme with his European allies.

He said: “We cannot deny that some of the alliances that we have come to rely on are not in the place we would want them to be.

“There is more tension in the alliances than there should be, and it’s very important that we therefore face up to this.”

He urged Europe to spend more on defence because the continent has fallen “behind over many years” and so there must be a “stronger European element in Nato”.

But the PM also noted how the international conflicts – in Ukraine and Iran – are having a knock-on effect for Britons.

“In the United Kingdom, if you look at the economic forecast now and compare it to the economic forecast just three or four months ago, they are in materially different places,” he said.

A Downing Street spokesperson also said: “The prime minister met the president of France, Emmanuel Macron, and Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, at the European Political Community Summit earlier today.

“The leaders reflected on their recent diplomatic discussions, including on the situation in Ukraine.

“On the situation in the Middle East and the need for an end to the war in Iran, the leaders agreed on the need to reopen of the Strait of Hormuz to restore freedom of navigation and the free flow of global trade.

“They discussed European support already positioned in the region to reinforce security, and welcomed the close coordination between European allies.”

Starmer sent King Charles on a state visit to Washington last week in the hope that the monarch could help patch up relations with Trump.

While the president seemed enamoured by the royals, and dropped all whisky tariffs on Scotland, he continued to take aim at the PM over Iran.

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