British PM Starmer to meet Trump at the White House
WASHINGTON — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is set to meet with President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to address the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and bilateral trade ties, amid the U.S. leader’s tariff threats on Europe and demands that the continent rely less on Washington for its security. Ahead of their meeting, Trump, who wants NATO members to boost defense spending to 5% of their Gross Domestic Product, reiterated his stance that Europe should “step up.” He told reporters at the White House on Wednesday that American taxpayers “shouldn’t be footing the bill than – more than the Europeans are paying.” In what appears to be a move to appease Trump, on Tuesday, Starmer announced an unexpected increase in the U.K. defense budget to 2.5% of the nation’s GDP by 2027, then to 2.6% the following year. “This week when I meet President Trump, I will be clear: I want this relationship to go from strength to strength,” Starmer told members of the British Parliament, underscoring what he calls his country’s “most important bilateral alliance,” with the U.S. Starmer told reporters Tuesday that the increase in defense spending was “three years in the making,” following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The increase will be funded by cutting Britain’s already depleted foreign aid budget to just 0.3% of the country’s GDP. He acknowledged that the decision to ramp up defense spending was “accelerated” as Trump moves to negotiate with Moscow without the involvement of Ukraine or Europeans and made clear he is reducing U.S. support for Europe’s security. “President Trump thinks we should do more, and I agree with him. It chimes with my thinking on this,” Starmer said. He said he also aims to further increase defense spending to 3% in the next Parliament, which will begin in 2029 at the latest after the next general election. A key message for Starmer to reinforce is that Europeans must be part of any discussions on Ukraine, said Gesine Weber, a fellow on the German Marshall Fund’s Geostrategy team. “Because it would be very odd to have a situation where you have the burden shift to Europeans, but not the strategic responsibility and the strategic reflections,” she told VOA. In 2023, the U.S. spent 3.4% of its GDP on defense, according to U.S. government data compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Insititute. European peacekeeping Starmer’s meeting comes on … “British PM Starmer to meet Trump at the White House” →