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US President Donald Trump has warned Sir Keir Starmer that it is “very dangerous” to pursue closer trade ties with China, after Britain’s Prime Minister praised “strong” ties with Beijing on a visit to the country.
Trump’s intervention came a day after Starmer held “very warm and constructive” talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two sides also signed an agreement to reduce Chinese tariffs on whiskey from 10 percent to 5 percent and introduce visa-free travel for British citizens.
Starmer said the deals were the first fruits of a new, “sophisticated” relationship with China. He will travel from Beijing to Shanghai on Friday to try to drum up more business for British companies.
But the diplomatic fragility of the mission became stronger when Trump attacked Starmer’s visit.
Asked what he thought about Starmer trying to build closer trade relations with China, Trump said: “Well, it’s very dangerous for him to do that.”
The US president also reopened his attack on Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who agreed to cut tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle exports during a visit to Beijing earlier this month.
That move prompted Trump to threaten to impose 100 percent tariffs on Canada, saying Carney was trying to create a “drop off port” for Chinese goods.
“I think it’s even more dangerous for Canada to do business with China,” Trump said at the documentary film premiere in Washington late Thursday. melania about the first lady
“Canada is not performing well. They are performing very poorly and you can’t look to China as the answer,” Trump said. “I know China very well. I know President Xi is my friend. I know him very well,” he said.
The US president himself is expected to visit Beijing in April after the world’s two largest economies agreed to end their tariff war at a summit in South Korea last year.
The visits by Starmer and Carney come as China has sought to take advantage of a growing rift between the US and its traditional allies caused by Trump’s erratic policymaking.
British officials say they expect Starmer’s visit to lead to trade deals worth billions of pounds.
UK and Chinese leaders also agreed to launch a “feasibility study” into negotiations to open up markets in trade and financial services, although UK officials acknowledged these were merely “talks about talks”.
In a sign of Britain’s concern that Trump might object to that effort, a British official insisted: “This is not a trade deal.”
On Friday, Starmer said he had “very warm, very good meetings” with Xi, which led to “the level of cooperation that we expected”.
“We worked warmly and made some real progress, because the UK has got a huge amount to offer,” Starmer told a meeting of the UK-China Business Forum at the Bank of China in Beijing.
He described the agreements on visa-free travel and reducing whiskey tariffs as “really important outreach, emblematic of what we’re doing with the relationship.”
“That’s how we build mutual trust and respect which is very important,” he said at the event. British and Chinese businessmen participated in the event.
A British official said Downing Street had previously discussed the objectives of Starmer’s visit with the US and had also noted Trump’s upcoming visit to China.
