Trump warns Britain on China ties as Starmer hails progress in Beijing

WASHINGTON/SHANGHAI – US President Donald Trump warned Britain against getting into business with China as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lauded the economic benefits of

resetting relations with Beijing

during a visit to the Chinese capital on Jan 29.

As Western leaders reel from Mr Trump’s unpredictability, Mr Starmer was the latest to head to China.

In a three-hour talk with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Jan 29, the British leader called for a “more sophisticated relationship” with improved market access, lower tariffs and investment deals, while also discussing soccer and Shakespeare.

In Washington, however, Mr Trump said in reply to questions about the closer ties: “Well, it’s very dangerous for them to do that, and it’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China.”

He was speaking to reporters ahead of the film premiere of Melania, a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump, at the Kennedy Center.

Mr Trump did not elaborate.

The US leader, who plans to travel to China in April, threatened last week to impose tariffs on Canada after Prime Minister Mark Carney struck economic deals with Beijing during a recent visit.

While a Downing Street spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment, British Trade Department Minister Chris Bryant said Mr Trump was “wrong” to say what the UK was doing was dangerous.

“Of course, we enter into our relationship with China with our eyes wide open,” he told the BBC on Jan 30.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters on Jan 30 who asked about Mr Trump’s comments that “China is willing to strengthen cooperation with all countries in the spirit of mutual benefit and win-win results”.

Around the time Mr Trump made the remarks, Mr Starmer told a meeting of the UK-China Business Forum in Beijing that he had “very warm” meetings with Mr Xi that provided “just the level of engagement that we hoped for”.

The British leader said: “We warmly engaged and made some real progress, actually, because the UK has got a huge amount to offer.”

He hailed agreements on visa-free travel and lowering whisky tariffs as “really important access, symbolic of what we’re doing with the relationship”.

“That is the way that we build the mutual trust and respect that is so important,” he added.

Starmer not choosing between US and China

Mr Starmer, whose centre-left Labour government has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised, has made improving ties with the world’s second-largest economy a priority.

His visit comes amid Mr Trump’s on-off threats of trade tariffs and pledges to grab control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, which have rattled longstanding US allies, such as Britain.

Mr Starmer told reporters on the plane en route to China that because of his country’s long history of working closely with the US, Britain could continue to strengthen economic ties with China without angering Mr Trump.

“The relationship we have with the US is one of the closest relationships... we hold,” he said, enumerating areas such as defence, security, intelligence and trade.

Mr Starmer said Britain would not have to choose between closer ties with the US or China, highlighting Mr Trump’s visit to Britain in September 2025, when they announced £150 billion (S$261.5 billion) of US investment in Britain.

Washington also received advance notice of Mr Starmer’s objectives on his China trip, a British government official said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Mr Starmer, who normally avoids criticising Mr Trump, has been much more willing to defy the US leader in recent weeks.

He urged Mr Trump to apologise for his “frankly appalling” remarks last week that some NATO troops avoided front-line combat and said he would not yield to his demands to annex Greenland.

Tough export market

In addition to Mr Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron visited China in December 2025, when Mr Xi accompanied him on a rare trip outside the capital.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to travel to China soon.

Before Mr Trump’s comments on Jan 29 on the closer ties, his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it was unlikely that Mr Starmer’s efforts with China would pay off.

“The Chinese are the greatest exporters, and they are very, very difficult when you’re trying to export to them,” he told reporters. “So good luck if the British are trying to export to China... It’s just unlikely.”

When asked if Mr Trump would threaten Britain with tariffs as he did Canada, Mr Lutnick said: “I think Canada played things a little differently.”

He added: “They said there are two powers of the world, and we’re going to select which one we want to trade with, and things like that.

“Unless the Prime Minister of Britain sort of takes on the United States and says very difficult things, I doubt it.” REUTERS