By Jeff Mason and Elizabeth Piper
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet at the White House on Thursday for their first in-person visit since the Republican leader upended U.S. policy on Ukraine, the Middle East and global trade.
Starmer is the second European leader to meet Trump this week after French President Emmanuel Macron came to the White House on Monday for a friendly encounter that displayed stark differences about Russia’s war with Ukraine and the U.S. push for a quick ceasefire.
Trump, who came into office on Jan. 20, has shocked Europe, a traditional U.S. ally, by drawing closer to Moscow and Russian President Vladimir Putin, calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a dictator, and demanding payback for U.S. financial support of Kyiv.
Zelenskiy is expected to be in Washington on Friday to sign an agreement with Trump on rare earth minerals, a deal the Ukrainian leader said would hinge on further U.S. aid. Trump views the deal as an avenue to recoup American money that has been spent to support Ukraine.
Starmer on Wednesday urged the United States to provide a security “backstop” for any European forces that take part in a potential peacekeeping role in Ukraine, saying that would offer Kyiv a lasting peace rather than a temporary pause in violence.
He has signaled that Britain will increase defense spending and is expected to try to reassure the U.S. president that Europe will provide support and security guarantees to Kyiv if peace talks with Russia are successful.
Trump has shattered foreign policy and domestic policy norms since the start of his second term, rattling allies by advocating for U.S. ownership of the Gaza Strip and by promising trade tariffs on U.S. friends and foes alike.
His relationship with Starmer got off to a friendly start in September with a two-hour dinner in New York at Trump Tower, a meeting the British leader’s team said was warm with the “gracious host” offering foreign minister David Lammy a second helping of chicken.
Starmer is expected to press on with that charm offensive at the White House.
He has said he is open to British troops providing security guarantees to Ukraine but only alongside other European nations and with “the right conditions in place”.
Like Macron, he will argue that a rushed peace deal with Russia, without the participation of Ukraine or European nations, might lead to further instability in Europe, which would not be good for the United States.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, might also learn lessons from how the Russia-Ukraine war ends, analysts said. Trump on Wednesday declined to comment when asked whether the united States would ever allow China to take control of Taiwan by force.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Elizabeth Piper, editing by Ross Colvin and Shri Navaratnam)
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