UK and US to announce tech, energy deals during Trump visit

LONDON – The United States and Britain will announce agreements on technology and civil nuclear energy during US President Donald Trump's unprecedented second state visit this week, as the UK hopes to finalise steel tariffs under a much-vaunted trade deal.

Mr Trump and his wife, Melania, will be treated to a

display of British royal pageantry

during their visit on Sept 17, including a carriage tour, a state banquet, a flypast by military aircraft and a gun salute.

The British government hopes the soft power of the royals will appeal to Mr Trump as it seeks tighter defence, security and energy ties with Washington, having already secured a favourable tariff deal.

Starmer hopes to seal lower tariff deals

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host Mr Trump at his Chequers country residence on Sept 18 to discuss working more closely together, on issues like Ukraine, and with the aim of finalising promised

lower tariffs for steel and aluminium

.

A spokesperson for Mr Starmer said the leaders would sign “a world-leading tech partnership” and “a major civil nuclear deal” during the trip.

“The UK-US relationship is the strongest in the world,” Mr Starmer's spokesperson told reporters. “This week, we are delivering a step change in that relationship.”

The British leader, a technocrat and a self-proclaimed socialist, and Mr Trump, a proudly unpredictable politician who has pushed the Republican Party further to the right, have overcome their differences to develop a good working relationship.

Mr Starmer was the first world leader to

agree an economic deal

with Mr Trump on reducing his global tariffs.

Under that agreement, the US said it planned to reduce tariffs on imports of cars and aluminum and steel. While details on car tariffs were agreed in June, the deal for steel and aluminium is yet to be finalised.

"When it comes to steel, we will make sure that we have an announcement as soon as possible," British business minister Mr Peter Kyle told the BBC on Sept 14.

Investments flow, Mandelson scandal

Before Mr Trump’s arrival, Britain on Sept 13 announced over £1.25 billion (S$2.17 billion) of US investment from PayPal, Bank of America and others, while Nvidia and OpenAI are expected to announce investment deals as part of the technology agreement, according to sources, who asked not to be named.

CoreWeave, a US cloud computing provider, also said it would announce investments in Britain this week.

A delegation of British officials will be in the US on Sept 15 to finalise the details of Mr Trump’s visit, Mr Starmer’s spokesperson said.

Those talks will be complicated by Mr Starmer’s decision last week

to fire Mr Peter Mandelson

, his ambassador to the US, over his ties with the late convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The sacking is deeply embarrassing for Mr Starmer, who appointed him to Britain’s most desirable diplomatic post less than a year ago.

This will be Mr Trump’s second visit to Britain in the last two months, after he spent time in Scotland at his golf courses at the end of July.

During this week’s visit, Mr Starmer’s spokesperson said there would also be announcements on deepening cultural ties, including promoting basketball in Britain and developing partnerships between heritage and art institutions. REUTERS