London (AFP) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Wednesday said he would not “yield” to pressure to join the Iran war after US President Donald Trump threatened to scrap a UK trade deal. “We’re not going to get dragged into this war. It is not our war,” Starmer told parliament. “I’m not going to change my mind. I’m not going to yield. It is not in our national interest to join this war,” the Labour leader added.
In a phone interview with Sky News, Trump threatened to alter an agreement struck with Britain that limits the impact of his US tariffs blitz. Trump, who has repeatedly slammed Starmer’s policies, said strains in the relationship with the NATO ally would “not at all” negatively affect King Charles III’s state visit to the United States this month. In reference to the royal trip, Starmer told parliament that the two nations’ “long-standing bonds… are far greater than anyone who occupies any particular office at any particular time.”
London and Washington concluded a trade agreement last year capping US tariffs at 10 percent on most British manufactured goods. In return, the UK agreed to open its markets further to American ethanol and beef, sparking concerns in the country. At the time, it was an advantageous agreement for London, which benefited from the lowest tariffs granted by the US. This advantage has, however, been weakened since the US Supreme Court struck down some tariffs and Washington retaliated by imposing a temporary 10-percent tariff on almost all of its imports pending a new tariff regime by July.
While Trump praised his good relationship with Starmer at the time of the agreement, ties have since deteriorated, particularly over the war in the Middle East. Starmer angered Trump by refusing to allow British bases to be used for the US’s initial strikes on Iran last month. He later agreed to a US request to use two British military bases for a “specific and limited defensive purpose.”
“It’s a relationship where when we asked them for help, they were not there,” Trump told Sky News. “When we needed them, they were not there. When we didn’t need them, they were not there. They still aren’t there,” he insisted. Starmer’s Labour government, which has sought to build bridges with Trump since his return to the White House in January 2025, has recently hardened its rhetoric toward its historic ally.
Finance Minister Rachel Reeves on Tuesday hit out at the “folly” of Trump launching a war with Iran “without a clear exit plan.” Starmer told parliament on Monday that Trump was wrong to threaten to destroy Iranian “civilisation,” while on Sunday Health Minister Wes Streeting criticised Trump’s language as “incendiary, provocative, outrageous.” Against this backdrop, Reeves was to see US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington on Wednesday as part of an International Monetary Fund meeting to detail the economic impact of the conflict.
© 2024 AFP
