After the royal pomp, Trump’s state visit turns to politics and a meeting with Starmer

By MICHELLE L PRICE and JILL LAWLESS Associated Press AYLESBURY England AP After the pomp it s time for the politics President Donald Trump met Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday the final day of the U S leader s state visit to Britain with tech outlay steel tariffs and potentially tricky talks over Ukraine and Gaza on the agenda The president and first lady Melania Trump were feted by King Charles III and Queen Camilla on Wednesday at Windsor Castle with all the pageantry the monarchy can muster gold-trimmed carriages scarlet-clad soldiers artillery salutes and a glittering banquet in a grand ceremonial hall British leaders have festooned the trip with the kind of superlatives Trump revels in It s an unprecedented second state visit for the U S leader featuring the biggest military honor guard ever assembled for such an occasion Britain s King Charles III left formally bids farewell to US President Donald Trump at Windsor Castle Windsor England Thursday Sept Aaron Chown Pool Photo via AP Britain s Prime Minister Keir Starmer left arrives for a State Banquet at Windsor Castle in Windsor England Sept Phil Noble Pool Photo via AP U S President Donald Trump left and Britain s King Charles speak during the State Banquet in Windsor Castle England on day one of U S President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump s second state visit to the UK Wednesday Sept Yui Mok PA via AP Pool Photo via AP Britain s King Charles III left formally bids farewell to US President Donald Trump at Windsor Castle Windsor England Thursday Sept Aaron Chown Pool Photo via AP Show Caption of Britain s King Charles III left formally bids farewell to US President Donald Trump at Windsor Castle Windsor England Thursday Sept Aaron Chown Pool Photo via AP Expand On Thursday it was Starmer s turn to welcome the president to Chequers a th-century manor house northwest of London that serves as a rural retreat for British leaders After bidding goodbye to the king and queen at Windsor Trump called the monarch a great gentleman and a great king Trump flew by helicopter selected miles to Chequers He was welcomed by the prime minister and his wife Victoria Starmer before the two men sat down for a formal meeting Trump s British hosts want to celebrate the strength of the U S-U K relationship almost years after its rocky start in Trump was welcomed by ceremonial honor guard complete with bagpipers a nod to the president s Scottish heritage and shown items from the archive of wartime leader Winston Churchill who coined the term special relationship for the bond between the United States and Britain There s also a lunch of Dover sole followed by key lime pie and a display by the Red Devils army parachute squad The first lady meanwhile spent the morning in Windsor She was shown treasures from the Royal Library by the queen before meeting young scouts with Kate the Princess of Wales Trans-Atlantic tech partnership To coincide with the visit Britain noted U S companies had pledged billion in assets in the United Kingdom including billion from outlay firm Blackstone in the next decade Funding will also flow the other way including almost billion by pharmaceutical firm GSK in the U S The two leaders will sign a tech prosperity deal that U K functionaries say will bring thousands of jobs and billions in financing in artificial intelligence quantum computing and nuclear force Related Articles Federal judge orders Alabama s largest county to redraw racially gerrymandered districts Brothers testify about box left with them by man accused of trying to assassinate Trump Rudy Giuliani is ordered to pay million in legal bills House turns back effort to censure Rep Ilhan Omar over remarks about Charlie Kirk ABC suspends Jimmy Kimmel s late-night show indefinitely over his remarks about Charlie Kirk s death It includes a U K arm of Stargate a Trump-backed AI infrastructure project led by OpenAI and a host of AI records centers around the U K American firms are announcing billion funding in the U K s AI sector including billion from Microsoft for protects including Britain s largest supercomputer British leaders say they have not agreed to scrap a digital services tax or water down internet regulation to get the deal particular details of which have yet to be broadcasted The British regime is learning that when it comes to deals with the U S administration the devil is in the detail In May Starmer and Trump struck a arrangement agreement that reduced U S tariffs on Britain s key auto and aerospace industries But talks on slashing duties on steel and aluminum to zero from their current level of have stalled despite a promise in May that the issue would be settled within weeks The British Chambers of Commerce announced failure to cut the tariffs would greeted with dismay by the British steel industry Potentially awkward conversations Starmer wants a effective state visit to balance weeks of bad news that saw him lose not just an ambassador but Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner who quit over a tax error on a home purchase and a senior aide Fourteen months after winning a landslide balloting win Starmer s regime is struggling to kickstart Britain s sluggish market and his Labour Party is lagging in the polls Leslie Vinjamuri president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs reported the trip is likely to be a complex visit for the prime minister much more so than for the U S president For Trump this plays well at home it plays well abroad It s almost entirely to President Trump s advantage to turn up to Britain and be celebrated by the British establishment she reported Starmer will be bracing for awkward questions about Jeffrey Epstein when he and Trump hold a news conference at Chequers Days before the state visit Starmer fired Britain s ambassador to the U S Peter Mandelson over the envoy s past friendship with the convicted sex offender Questions about Epstein overshadowed Trump s last visit to the U K in July when he sat with Starmer at his golf club in Scotland As they took questions from journalists Trump was repeatedly peppered with queries about Epstein as his governing body faced pressure to release leadership records into the criminal occurrence of the now-disgraced financier who government say killed himself in Complicated discussions on Ukraine Middle East There are also potentially tough conversations to be had over Ukraine and the Middle East Starmer has played a major part in European efforts to shore up U S advocacy for Ukraine Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin but has not made good on threats to impose new sanctions on Russia for shunning peace negotiations On Tuesday Trump appeared to put the onus on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying He s going to have to make a deal Last week s Russian drone incursion into NATO member Poland drew strong condemnation from European NATO allies and pledges of more planes and troops for the bloc s eastern flank Trump played down the occurrence s severity musing that it could have been a mistake The king gave Trump a gentle nudge in his state banquet speech on the strength of the trans-Atlantic relationship Charles noted that as tyranny once again threatens Europe we and our allies stand together in sponsorship of Ukraine to deter aggression and secure peace Starmer also departs from Trump on Israel s war in Gaza and has explained the U K will formally recognize a Palestinian state later this month Trump has threatened to penalize Canada during exchange negotiations for making a similar move AP Mechanism Writer Matt O Brien contributed to this story