U.S. President Donald Trump has warned Britain against doing business with Beijing. His comments came as Prime Minister Keir Starmer highlighted the economic benefits of resetting relations with China during a visit on Friday (30 January).
As Western leaders reel from Trump's unpredictability, Starmer is the latest to head to China.
In three-hour talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday (29 January), the British leader called for a "more sophisticated relationship" with improved market access, lower tariffs and investment deals.
In Washington, however, replying to questions about the closer ties, Trump said, "Well, it's very dangerous for them to do that."
Trump, 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 on a recent visit.
A Downing Street spokesperson and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Around the time of Trump's comments, Starmer told a meeting of the UK-China Business Forum in the Chinese capital that his "very warm" meetings with Xi had provided "just the level of engagement that we hoped for".
He added, "We warmly engaged and made some real progress, actually, because the UK has got a huge amount to offer."
Starmer hailed deals on visa-free travel and lower 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," Starmer said.
Starmer, whose centre-left Labour government has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised, has made improving relations with the world's second-largest economy a priority.
His visit to China comes amid Trump's on-off threats of trade tariffs and pledges to grab control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, which have rattled long-standing U.S. allies, Britain among them.
Because of his country's long history of working closely with the United States, Britain could continue to strengthen economic ties with China without angering Trump, Starmer told reporters on the airplane en route to China.
"The relationship we have with the United States is one of the closest ... we hold," he said, enumerating areas such as defence, security, intelligence and trade.
Starmer said Britain would not have to choose between closer ties with the United States or China, highlighting Trump’s September visit to Britain that unveiled £150 billion of U.S investment in to the country.
Starmer, who normally avoids criticising Trump, has been more much willing to defy the U.S. president in recent weeks.
He urged Trump to apologise for his "frankly appalling" remarks last week that some NATO troops avoided frontline combat and said he would not yield to his demands to annex Greenland.
In addition to Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron visited China in December, when Xi accompanied him on a rare trip outside the capital. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to travel to China soon.
Before Trump's Thursday comments on the closer ties, his Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it was unlikely that 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," Lutnick added.
Asked if Trump would threaten Britain with tariffs as he did Canada, Lutnick said, "I think Canada played things a little differently.
"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," Lutnick added.
Indian police detained more than 2,000 protesters in Delhi on Saturday as authorities blocked a planned demonstration calling for the resignation o...
A powerful explosion has been reported at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, raising fresh concerns over aviation security in Saudi Arabi...
At least 12 people, including three children, have been killed in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, a day after U.S. Presiden...
Leaders of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed to hold coordinated population censuses around 2030. They took the decision at the CIS Council of Heads of State meeting in Awaza, Turkmenistan on Friday, media reported.
A powerful explosion has been reported at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, raising fresh concerns over aviation security in Saudi Arabia as tensions across the region continue to escalate.
Britain and Israel have reached a temporary compromise over the future of the British Consulate General in East Jerusalem, easing a diplomatic dispute that had threatened to further strain relations between the two countries.
South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday (9 October) escalating tensions with European allies and potentially targeting companies that provide services to the tribunal. The move came hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Indian police detained more than 2,000 protesters in Delhi on Saturday as authorities blocked a planned demonstration calling for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over disputed changes to voter lists.
At least 12 people, including three children, have been killed in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced a deal to ease sanctions on Russian diesel.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has criticised U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russian diesel exports, questioning why Moscow was granted an economic benefit without an apparent concession towards ending the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed surprise after Donald Trump mediated the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement in 2025, the U.S. President said at a rally in New York state on Friday.
The United Nations has condemned a sharp rise in attacks on civilians in Ukraine, reporting that more than 100 people were killed and at least 429 injured in a single week as Russian strikes hit residential areas, passenger buses and critical infrastructure.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment