Rising tensions across the Atlantic are set to escalate today as Donald Trump has issued a stark warning about Keir Starmer’s efforts to strengthen ties with China, labeling them as ‘very dangerous’.

This development presents a challenge for the Prime Minister, as the former US President criticized attempts to forge better relations with Beijing during a significant visit this week.

These remarks follow previous disagreements between Trump and Starmer over the former’s aspiration to acquire Greenland and the role of NATO forces in Afghanistan.

This intervention casts further doubt on the stability of the Special Relationship between the UK and the US, raising concerns that Sir Keir may need to decide between aligning with Beijing or Washington.

Meanwhile, trade minister Chris Bryant, making rounds on broadcast interviews this morning, openly disagreed with Trump, stating that the former president was ‘wrong’—especially given Trump’s own plans to visit China.

Trump warns UK against expanding trade with China

Bryant argued that ignoring China’s global influence, as Trump suggests, would be ‘absolutely bonkers’, considering its status as a ‘major power’.

Mr Trump was asked at the premiere of the new documentary about his wife Melania what he thought ‘about the UK getting into business with China’ following Sir Keir’s lengthy talks with President Xi Jinping on Thursday that led to cuts to whisky tariffs and visa-free travel for Brits.

Mr Trump replied: ‘Well, it’s very dangerous for them to do that.’

He went on to repeat his criticism of Sir Keir’s ally Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, for seeking a free trade deal with China.

‘It’s even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China,’ President Trump told reporters.

‘Canada is not doing well. They’re doing very poorly, and you can’t look at China as the answer.’

But he added: ‘I know China very well. I know President Xi is a friend of mine.’

UK minister defends engagement with China after Trump comments

Asked by Sky News about the US president’s comments, Sir Chris said: ‘Well, he also said that President Xi (Jinping) is a friend of his and that he’s going to visit him in April.’

Sir Chris added: ‘I agree that you of course you have to go into your relationship with China with your eyes wide open.

‘You have to challenge China on the issues where we disagree with them and but you have to face the fact that China is a major power in the world.

‘It’s the second largest economy in the world, and it’s our fourth largest export market.

‘So it would be absolutely bonkers to the UK not to engage with China.’

The PM ended his talks with Xi with little more than warm words, having flown 5,000 miles with the promise of ‘history-making’ engagement.

UK secures tariff cuts and visa changes in China talks

Having hyped up the benefits the trip to Beijing would bring for Britain before he left, Sir Keir secured a halving of tariffs on whisky exports, plus the end of visas for tourists and businesses on short visits to China – something 50 other major countries including Germany and France already have.

Sir Keir failed to secure a commitment for the release of Jimmy Lai, the British democracy activist jailed in Hong Kong; or the lifting of sanctions on MPs and peers who have spoken out against China’s human rights abuses.

The leaders also discussed Ukraine but there was no indication that Sir Keir persuaded president Xi to end his support for Russia.

Downing Street would not even say if Sir Keir – dubbed Kowtow Keir for allowing Beijing to build a mega-embassy in London – had raised the scandals of Chinese intelligence services trying to infiltrate Parliament or hacking the phones of aides to former Tory prime ministers.

No10 sparked fresh outrage by opening the door to Xi – who last came to Britain a decade ago under David Cameron’s ‘golden era’ of close relations between the two countries – visiting the UK again.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has insisted Xi would not be allowed the honour of a speech to Parliament, after China sanctioned prominent MPs who had criticised the regime. 

‘I’m the guardian of MPs. I’m there to protect them from sanctions. It would be wrong to let Xi into their workplace while these sanctions are in place,’ he told The Times. 

Sir Chris sounded distinctly uncomfortable about the prospects of a visit when grilled on the issue this morning, stressing he was bound by collective government responsibility. 

UK says China talks will not damage US relationship

‘I’m a government minister… of course we take all those issues that you just raised extremely seriously and I’m sure that they would factor into any discussions,’ he told Sky News. 

 Sir Keir had been asked on his way to Beijing if he was worried the trip to irritate the White House.

The PM had replied: ‘The relationship we have with the US is one of the closest relationships we hold, on defense, security, intelligence and also on trade and lots of areas.

‘We had a very successful state visit from President Trump last year which led to hundreds of billions of pounds being invested in each other’s economies so it’s a very important relationship.’

Sources stressed that the US was aware of the UK’s objectives for the trip in advance.

UK PM lands in Beijing despite fury over spying claims

Keir Starmer arrived in China today as he bids to boost trade despite anger at rampant spying and human rights abuses. 

The PM was handed a bouquet of flowers as he stepped off the plane in Beijing for the first visit by a UK premier for eight years. 

Sir Keir has insisted that doing business with the Asian giant is essential, despite acknowledging that there must always be a robust approach on security. 

He is accompanied by a delegation of business leaders – although Chancellor Rachel Reeves has notably been left behind in London. However, Tories have accused him of ‘kowtowing’ in his desperation to kickstart the economy.

After claims that government officials’ phones were hacked in the past, Sir Keir told reporters on the flight there was no evidence anyone in his Downing Street operation had been targeted. 

He was challenged about security in No10 following reports that state-sponsored hackers had exposed the private communications of close aides to Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. 

Intelligence sources are said to fear that the operation that began in 2021, known as Salt Typhoon, remains ongoing. 

But asked en route to Beijing if his own staff had been successfully targeted, Sir Keir replied: ‘No, there’s no evidence of that.’ He went on: ‘We’ve got robust schemes, security measures in place as you’d expect.’ 

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