WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said it would be “very dangerous” for Britain to deal with China after Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Shanghai on the third day of his visit to the country.
The US president was reacting to an agreement between the UK and China aimed at increasing business and investment, announced after Mr Starmer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
On Thursday, at the premiere of a documentary about first lady Melania Trump, Trump called Xi a “friend” and said he “knows” the Chinese president “very well.”
Starmer’s visit to China is the first by a British prime minister since 2018 and follows a number of Western leaders recently seeking to improve relations with China, seen by many as a linchpin from an increasingly unpredictable United States.
In response to Trump’s comments, Downing Street said the White House was aware of Starmer’s visit and its purpose in advance, noting that Trump himself was scheduled to visit China in April.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also visited China in mid-January and reached an agreement on trade and tourism.
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President Trump then threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian imports if Carney did any further business with the Chinese government, a threat that the Canadian prime minister later dismissed as a negotiating tactic.
“I think it’s even more dangerous for Canada to do business with China. Canada’s performance is not very good. China’s performance is very poor. We can’t ask China for answers,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, Mr Starmer arrived in China’s financial capital Shanghai on Friday to boost business opportunities for British companies in the world’s second-biggest economy.
Mr Starmer brought more than 50 business leaders on the trip.
Mr Starmer said on Friday that he had had a “very good meeting” with Xi, resulting in “the level of engagement that we expected”.
“We have been warmly engaged and we have actually made great progress, because the UK has a huge offer,” he said at the Bank of China in Beijing. — Agency
