FLASH
Shkruar nga PamfletiEarlier this week, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada if it continued with economic deals reached with China during a recent visit to Beijing by its prime minister, Mark Carney.
US President Donald Trump has warned the UK not to make deals with China, just hours after Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced economic deals during a historic visit to Beijing, The Guardian reports.
The US president said it was " very dangerous " for the UK to forge closer ties with the rival superpower, while the prime minister's three-hour talks with leader Xi Jinping highlighted a softening of previously tense relations.
Starmer, the first British prime minister to travel to Beijing in eight years, promised a "more sophisticated" relationship with China, as he secured better market access, lower tariffs and investment deals.
But in Washington, responding to questions about Starmer's efforts for an economic reset, Trump said: "Well, it's very dangerous for them to do that."
His statements could cause concern inside Downing Street, given the US president's unpredictability and his long-standing hostility towards China. One official said the US had been aware of the UK's trip and objectives in advance.
After his talks with Xi at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday, Starmer said the UK's relationship with China was in a "good and strong state", and that his meetings had provided "exactly the level of engagement we were hoping for".
“We engaged and, in fact, made some real progress, because the UK has a lot to offer,” he told participants at a meeting of the UK–China Business Forum at the Bank of China in Beijing.
The chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, Chris Torrens, said Starmer's visit to Beijing was "successful", telling the BBC: "It makes sense for the UK to look to China; it is one of its biggest trading partners."
The British Prime Minister was then expected to travel to Shanghai before heading to Tokyo, where he would meet his Japanese counterpart, Sanae Takaichi, for a working dinner.
He is just the latest Western leader to visit Beijing in recent weeks, seeking to build ties with the world's second-largest economy and defend against an unpredictable American president.
This comes at a time when Trump has made repeated threats of trade tariffs and promised to take control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, which has worried long-time US allies, including the United Kingdom.
Earlier this week, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Canada if it continued with economic deals reached with China during a recent visit to Beijing by its prime minister, Mark Carney.
After commenting on the UK's engagement with Beijing, Trump said it was "even more dangerous, I think, for Canada. Canada is not doing well. They are doing very badly and you cannot look to China as the solution."
However, the US president, who is expected to visit Beijing himself in April and whose country is China's single largest trading partner, added: "President Xi is a friend of mine, I know him very well."
Before his trip to Beijing, Starmer said in an interview with Bloomberg that Britain would not have to choose between the US and China, saying the country could strengthen economic ties with Beijing without angering Trump or damaging relations with Washington.
"We have very close relations with the US, of course we want to have them and we will maintain that, along with security and defense," he said.
Before Trump's comments, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said it was unlikely that Starmer's efforts with China would bear fruit.
“The Chinese are the biggest exporters and they are very, very difficult when you try to export to them,” he told reporters. “So good luck if the British are trying to export to China… that’s just not likely.”
He downplayed the possibility of Trump threatening Britain with tariffs as he did with Canada, adding: "Unless the British prime minister somehow comes out against the United States and says some very tough things, I doubt that will happen."
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