Connect with us

Published

on

Sir Keir Starmer will travel to Washington this coming week for a bilateral meeting with President Biden.

The trip to the White House, on Friday, will be the prime minister’s second visit since he was elected in July.

In a statement, the White House said the leaders would focus on “global issues of mutual interest”.

“The leaders will have an in-depth discussion… including continuing robust support to Ukraine in its defence against Russian aggression, securing a hostage release and ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, protecting international shipping in the Red Sea from Iranian-backed Houthi threats, and advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the White House statement said.

It continued: “They will also discuss opportunities to strengthen US-UK cooperation to secure supply chains and increase climate resilience. President Biden will underscore the importance of continuing to strengthen the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”

The UK is heavily invested in several live geopolitical challenges which all predate Sir Keir’s premiership.

The hope, according to sources, is that mutual progress can be made on the various challenges with the outgoing Biden administration.

More on Joe Biden

Britain and the US have cooperated closely on Ukraine, leading a Western alliance that has, at times, shown some reluctance in its continued support against Russian aggression.

On protecting international shipping in the Red Sea against continued Houthi attacks from Yemen, the UK has been a key partner for the US in a mission that’s shown limited success.

The potential for some divergence between the two leaders could come over Gaza.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

July: Starmer backs ‘special relationship’

Last week, the UK announced that it would suspend the export of some arms to Israel because of the risk that they could be used in non-compliance with international humanitarian law.

US government lawyers have not come to the same conclusions about how Israel is using weapons in Gaza but this week a State Department spokesman said the UK was making a sovereign decision that it was entirely entitled to make.

Notably, however, a foreign policy advisor to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump struck a different tone.

Robert O’Brien – who is likely to be in a Trump White House if he wins in November – said that a UK-US special relationship would be under strain if the UK restricted weapons sales to Israel.

Read more from Sky News:
Sir Keir heads to Ireland to ‘reset’ relations
Cheney announces he will vote for Harris
Trump sentencing postponed

The relationship between Mr Biden and Sir Keir reflects their political alignment. During his first visit to the White House, just days after taking office, President Biden, who was then the Democratic candidate for November’s election, spoke warmly of the much coveted “special relationship”.

“I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe. We know where you are, you know where we are,” Mr Biden told Sir Keir.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

How does the US election work?

No meetings have been announced between Sir Keir and vice president Kamala Harris, the new Democratic Party candidate for the November election, though it’s possible she will be part of the bilateral meetings with President Biden.

A significant moment would be a meeting between Sir Keir and Mr Trump.

No plans have been announced but such a meeting would be seen as diplomatically savvy, especially if a Harris meeting materialises, and it would not be without precedent.

Former prime minister David Cameron met Republican nominee Mitt Romney in July 2012 and Gordon Brown met Barack Obama when he was the Democratic Party candidate in 2008.

Sir Keir’s visit comes at the end of a week in which US secretary of state Antony Blinken will meet Foreign Secretary David Lammy in London.

Gaza will be a key focus but Mr Blinken will travel with ambassador Katherine Tai, the US trade representative.

Trade and technology are set to be on the agenda too.

The UK is still seeking to formalise a post-Brexit trade partnership with the US.

Continue Reading

US

What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war ramps up

Published

on

By

What China could do next as Trump's tariff war ramps up

The severity cannot be overstated, if an additional 50% tariffs are levied on all Chinese goods it will decimate trade between the world’s two biggest economies.

Remember, 50% would sit on top of what is already on the table: 34% announced last week, 20% announced at the start of US President Donald Trump’s term, and some additional tariffs left over from his first term in office.

In total, it means all Chinese goods would face tariffs of over 100%, some as high as 120%.

It’s a price that makes any trade almost impossible.

China is really the only nation in the world at the moment that is choosing to take a stand.

While others are publicly making concessions and sending delegations to negotiate, China has clearly calculated that not being seen to be bullied is worth the cost that retaliation will bring.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump

The real question, though, is if the US does indeed impose this extra 50% tomorrow, what could or would China do next?

It has said it will “fight to the end”, but what does that mean?

In reality, there are few good options.

There are some obvious measures that China will almost certainly enact.

👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈

Further export controls on rare earth minerals (crucial for the development of high-tech products) are one example. China controls a huge proportion of the world’s supply, but the US would likely find workarounds in time.

Hiking tariffs on high-impact US products such as agricultural goods is another option, but there is only so far this could go.

The potentially more impactful options have significant drawbacks for Beijing.

It could, for instance, target high-profile American companies such as Apple and Tesla, but this isn’t ideal at a time when China is trying to attract more foreign investment, and some devaluation of the currency is possible, but it would also come with adverse effects.

Other options are more political and come with the risk of escalation beyond the economic arena.

In an opinion piece this morning, the editor of Xinhua, China’s state news agency, speculated that China could cease all cooperation with the US on the war against fentanyl.

Read more from Sky News:
Baby girl becomes first child in UK to be born from womb transplant
March hottest on record in Europe and by some margin

This has been a major political issue for Mr Trump, and it’s hard to see it would not constitute some sort of red line for him.

Other options touted include banning the import of American films, or perhaps calling for the Chinese public to boycott all American products.

Anything like this comes with a sense that the world’s two most powerful superpowers might be teetering on the edge of not just a total economic decoupling, but cultural separation too.

There is understandably serious nervousness about how that could spiral and the precedent it sets.

Continue Reading

US

Donald Trump’s 104% tariffs on China – and other levies on ‘worst offenders’ – in effect this mornong

Published

on

By

Donald Trump's 104% tariffs on China - and other levies on 'worst offenders' - in effect this morning

Donald Trump’s trade tariffs on what he calls “the worst offenders” come into effect at 5am UK time, with China facing by far the biggest levy.

The US will hit Chinese imports with 104% tariffs, marking a significant trade escalation between the world’s two largest superpowers.

At a briefing on Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Donald Trump “believes that China wants to make a deal with the US,” before saying: “It was a mistake for China to retaliate.

“When America is punched, he punches back harder.”

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

White House announces 104% tariff on China

After Mr Trump announced sweeping levies last week – hitting some imported goods from China with 34% tariffs – Beijing officials responded with like-for-like measures.

The US president then piled on an extra 50% levy on China, taking the total to 104% unless it withdrew its retaliatory 34% tariff.

China’s commerce ministry said in turn that it would “fight to the end”, and its foreign ministry accused the US of “economic bullying” and “destabilising” the world’s economies.

More on China

‘Worst offender’ tariffs also in effect

Alongside China’s 104% tariff, roughly 60 countries – dubbed by the US president as the “worst offenders” – will also see levies come into effect today.

The EU will be hit with 20% tariffs, while countries like Vietnam and Cambodia see a 46% levy and 49% rate respectively.

The UK was not included on this list, and instead saw a “baseline”, worldwide 10% tariff on imported goods in effect from last Saturday.

At the weekend, Sir Keir Starmer promised the government was ready to “shelter British businesses from the storm”.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

What’s going on with the US and China?

Since the tariffs were announced last Wednesday, global stock markets have plummeted, with four days of steep losses for all three of the US’ major indexes.

As trading closed on Tuesday evening, the S&P 500 lost 1.49%, the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.15%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.84%.

According to LSEG data, S&P 500 companies have lost $5.8tn (£4.5tn) in stock market value since last Wednesday, the deepest four-day loss since the benchmark was created in the 1950s.

New York Stock Exchange on 8 April 2025. Pic: AP
Image:
Global stock markets have been reeling since Trump’s tariff announcement last week. Pic: AP

Read more:
What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war ramps up
Chancellor to hold tariff crisis talks with top City executives

Trump signs coal orders

Meanwhile, the US president signed four executive orders to boost American coal mining and production.

The directives order:
• keeping some coal plants that were set for retirement open;
• directing the interior secretary to “acknowledge the end” of an Obama-era moratorium that paused coal leasing on federal lands;
• requiring federal agencies to rescind policies transitioning the US away from coal production, and;
• directing the Department of Energy and other federal agencies to assess how coal energy can meet rising demand from artificial intelligence.

Read more:
The good, the bad and the ugly in Trump’s coal plans

At a White House ceremony, Mr Trump said the orders end his predecessor Joe Biden’s “war on beautiful clean coal,” and miners “will be put back to work”.

Continue Reading

US

What China could do next as Trump’s tariff war ramps up

Published

on

By

What China could do next as Trump's tariff war ramps up

The severity cannot be overstated, if an additional 50% tariffs are levied on all Chinese goods it will decimate trade between the world’s two biggest economies.

Remember, 50% would sit on top of what is already on the table: 34% announced last week, 20% announced at the start of US President Donald Trump’s term, and some additional tariffs left over from his first term in office.

In total, it means all Chinese goods would face tariffs of over 100%, some as high as 120%.

It’s a price that makes any trade almost impossible.

China is really the only nation in the world at the moment that is choosing to take a stand.

While others are publicly making concessions and sending delegations to negotiate, China has clearly calculated that not being seen to be bullied is worth the cost that retaliation will bring.

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Tariffs: Xi hits back at Trump

The real question, though, is if the US does indeed impose this extra 50% tomorrow, what could or would China do next?

It has said it will “fight to the end”, but what does that mean?

In reality, there are few good options.

There are some obvious measures that China will almost certainly enact.

👉 Follow Trump 100 on your podcast app 👈

Further export controls on rare earth minerals (crucial for the development of high-tech products) are one example. China controls a huge proportion of the world’s supply, but the US would likely find workarounds in time.

Hiking tariffs on high-impact US products such as agricultural goods is another option, but there is only so far this could go.

The potentially more impactful options have significant drawbacks for Beijing.

It could, for instance, target high-profile American companies such as Apple and Tesla, but this isn’t ideal at a time when China is trying to attract more foreign investment, and some devaluation of the currency is possible, but it would also come with adverse effects.

Other options are more political and come with the risk of escalation beyond the economic arena.

In an opinion piece this morning, the editor of Xinhua, China’s state news agency, speculated that China could cease all cooperation with the US on the war against fentanyl.

Read more from Sky News:
Baby girl becomes first child in UK to be born from womb transplant
March hottest on record in Europe and by some margin

This has been a major political issue for Mr Trump, and it’s hard to see it would not constitute some sort of red line for him.

Other options touted include banning the import of American films, or perhaps calling for the Chinese public to boycott all American products.

Anything like this comes with a sense that the world’s two most powerful superpowers might be teetering on the edge of not just a total economic decoupling, but cultural separation too.

There is understandably serious nervousness about how that could spiral and the precedent it sets.

Continue Reading

Trending