PRIME Minister Keir Starmer has refused to change plans for a state visit from Donald Trump, even as the US president hits the UK with tariffs and threatens to start a global trade war.
Speaking in the West Midlands on Monday, the Labour leader also declined to say that his UK Government would remain bound by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s self-imposed fiscal rules for the entirety of the current parliament.
Starmer was speaking from a Jaguar Land Rover factory when he outlined changes to UK Government regulation for motor vehicles, which he said would help the industry after it was hit by 25% US import tariffs. All other UK goods were hit with a 10% flat tariff rate.
Fielding questions from the media after his speech, Starmer was asked by ITV’s Robert Peston about Trump’s upcoming state visit to the UK, which is expected to see him visit Scotland.
“Prime Minister, in the last few minutes, the American stock market has gone into bear market territory,” Peston said, using a term for a 20% slide.
“This is now officially Donald Trump's global crash. Have you told the American president that his tariffs are making the world and America poorer, and if not, why not?
“And if I may, the king has extended the most extraordinary honour to the American president of a second state visit. Isn't this the moment to rescind that invitation?”
Starmer responded: “Well, Robert, I've been clear throughout and in all my discussions that nobody welcomes tariffs, that has been my consistent position because I think directly or indirectly they damage all of us, and that is why we're working so hard here in the UK and the measures we're taking in our economy, such as those announced today, to turbocharge the resilience of our economy and to step into that space, and why I've spent a lot of the last few days talking to international leaders about how we lower trade barriers and trade more openly as a nation.
“It's not in our interest to simply rip up that relationship any more than it is on defence and security and intelligence-sharing, where we 24/7 are operating with the US as our closest ally.
“So, yes, we have to keep pragmatic and calm in the steps that we take but we also need to keep a sense of perspective and context.
“The relationship between us and the US is a long-standing relationship that has helped to keep the peace for 80 years, and it is wrong to simply walk away from that relationship in my view.
“It's a special relationship, close relationship. We now have to step up to the challenges that tariffs undoubtedly put on the table for us.”
King Charles invited Trump to visit Scotland in a letter delivered by Starmer in February.
On Monday, Starmer was also asked by Sky News’s Sam Coates if he could “say without hesitation that you will keep Rachel Reeves's fiscal rules exactly as they are for the whole of the parliament and not come back at any point and say events mean that they need changing”.
The Chancellor has said that debt must be falling as a share of the economy by 2029/30, that the current budget should be on course to be in balance or surplus by the same year.
In his response, Starmer stressed the importance of the rules but did not explicitly say that Labour would stick to them.
“Well, Sam, this is a moment for stepping up, as I've just said,” he told press.
“The fiscal rules were put in for a purpose, and that is because Liz Truss tried an experiment with this country of putting to one side fiscal rules and checks and balances, and that caused a massive impact on the lives of working people as inflation and interest rates went through the roof.
“We are not prepared to inflict that kind of damage on working people. That's why we put the fiscal rules in in the first place, to create that kind of stability.
He went on: “The reaction to the challenges of the last few days is not for us to say, well, the first thing we'll now do is to put on one side our fiscal rules, is to remind people why we put them in place in the first place, which is to create the certainty that we need.
“There is enough uncertainty and insecurity as it is. Our job is to calmly and pragmatically take forward these really important steps today for our country.”
Markets across the globe have tumbled in response to Trump’s tariffs, with trading in New York opening at around 4% down just moments before Starmer began speaking.
President Trump has showed no sign of changing course, urging people to “be strong, courageous and patient”, promising that “greatness will be the result”.
