By Andrew MacAskill and Andrea Shalal
EDINBURGH/TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump will host British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf resort in western Scotland on Monday for talks ranging from their recent bilateral trade deal to the worsening hunger crisis in Gaza, the two governments said.
Trump, riding high after announcing a huge trade agreement with the European Union late on Sunday, said he expected Starmer would also be pleased.
“The prime minister of the UK, while he’s not involved in this, will be very happy because you know, there’s a certain unity that’s been brought there, too,” Trump said. “He’s going to be very happy to see what we did.”
UK WANTS TO DISCUSS STEEL TARIFFS
Starmer had hoped to negotiate a drop in U.S. steel and aluminium tariffs as part of the talks, but Trump on Sunday ruled out any changes in the 50% steel and aluminium duties for the EU, and has said the trade deal with Britain is “concluded”
British business and trade minister Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the talks with Trump offered Britain a good chance to advance its arguments, but he did not expect announcements on the issue on Monday.
Trump and Starmer were expected to meet at noon (0700 ET) at Trump’s luxury golf resort in Turnberry, on Scotland’s west coast, before travelling on together later to a second sprawling estate owned by Trump in the east, near Aberdeen.
Hundreds of police officers were guarding the perimeter of the Turnberry course and the beach that flanks it, with a helicopter hovering overhead, although there was no sign of protesters outside the course.
Starmer was arriving from Switzerland, where England on Sunday won the women’s European soccer championship final.
Casting a shadow over their visit has been the deepening crisis in the war-torn Gaza enclave, where images of starving Palestinians have alarmed the world.
BRITISH CABINET RECALLED
Starmer has recalled his ministers from their summer recess for a cabinet meeting, a government source said on Sunday, most likely to discuss the situation in Gaza as pressure grows at home and abroad to recognise a Palestinian state.
On Friday, he said Britain would recognise a Palestinian state only as part of a negotiated peace deal, disappointing many in his Labour Party who want him to follow France in taking swifter action.
Trump on Friday dismissed French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to recognize a Palestinian state, an intention that also drew strong condemnation from Israel, after similar moves from Spain, Norway and Ireland last year.
Trump said that while the U.S. would increase its aid to Gaza, it wanted others to join the effort. Ukraine was also on the agenda for talks with Starmer.
Dozens of Gazans have died of malnutrition in recent weeks, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave, with aid groups warning of mass hunger.
The war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, Israel’s offensive has killed nearly 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials. It has reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population of over 2 million.
(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill in Turnberry and Andrea Shalal in Edinburgh; additional reporting by Sam Tabahriti in London; Editing by Leslie Adler)
