Britain's Starmer seeks strong ties with both the EU and Donald Trump. That could be tricky

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer waits for Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz to arrive at the Chequers, in Aylesbury, England, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (Ben Stansall/Pool Photo via AP)

LONDON — Keir Starmer travels to Brussels on Monday, becoming the first British prime minister to attend a European Union leaders' meeting since the U.K. left the bloc five years ago.

Starmer will head to dinner with EU leaders at Brussels’s neoclassical Egmont Palace, walking a diplomatic and economic tightrope. He is seeking to rebuild ties with the EU while avoiding tariffs from protectionist U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has slapped import taxes on the United States' biggest trading partners -- Canada, Mexico and China -- and says he will also impose tariffs on goods from the 27-nation EU, with which the U.S. has a trade deficit. His attitude toward Britain is more ambiguous. Trump said early Monday that “the U.K. is out of line but ... I think that one can be worked out.”

Starmer has stressed his desire for a good relationship with Trump. His spokesman said Britain has a “fair and balanced trading relationship” with the U.S.

At a Brussels meeting with NATO chief Mark Rutte on Monday before the EU dinner, Starmer said the U.K. would not have to choose between Europe and the United States

“Both of these relationships are very important to us,” Starmer told reporters. “If you look at our vital interests, it’s really important we work with both, that we don’t see it as an either-or.”

On the issue of tariffs, Starmer said, “it’s early days, and I think what’s really important is open and strong trading relations. That’s been the basis of my discussions with President Trump and I know that intense US-EU discussions are planned.”

Trump’s trade battles complicate Starmer’s aim of a “reset” with the EU after years of bitterness over Brexit. It’s already complicated enough by Britain’s domestic politics.

Starmer wants to remove some of the red tape and other barriers to trade with the bloc imposed by Brexit but has ruled out the two things that would make the most difference -- rejoining the bloc’s customs union or single market.

He also has resisted EU pressure for a youth mobility deal that would let young people from Britain and the EU live and work in the other’s territory for a time.

Starmer’s center-left Labour Party government is wary of riling populist politicians like Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage, who is poised to pounce on any perceived “betrayal” of Brexit.

Starmer is aiming for relatively modest changes such as making it easier for artists to tour and for professionals to have their qualifications recognized, and seeking closer cooperation on law enforcement and security.

EU politicians have welcomed the change of tone from Starmer’s euroskeptic Conservative predecessors, but want concrete proposals, and inevitably compromises, from the U.K. Britain and the EU say they will hold a full leaders' summit later this year.

Ahead of the meeting in Brussels, Starmer said he would stress the importance of “keeping up the pressure” with sanctions on Russia to squeeze its “war machine” targeting Ukraine.

Trump’s return to office has raised questions over U.S. support for Kyiv -- and for the trans-Atlantic military alliance itself. Trump has said that NATO countries should spend at least 5% of their GDPs on defense, up from the current 2% target. He also has not ruled out using military force to seize control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark.

Britain spends 2.3% of GDP on defense and says it will increase it to 2.5%.

By Jill Lawless