Trump reportedly warns UK against doing business with China as Starmer seeks reset

US President Donald Trump reportedly warned Britain on Thursday that doing business with China would be “very dangerous”, after London and China announced steps to mend relations.

After years of tensions, China and the UK are aiming to forge a long-term strategic partnership following high-stakes talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Starmer’s four-day visit to China, the first by a British prime minister in eight years, signaled an attempt to reset relations between the two countries.

“It’s very dangerous for them to do something like that,” Trump said when asked to comment on Starmer’s approach to business relations with China on the sidelines of the Kennedy Center premiere of “Melania,” according to Reuters.

China on Thursday agreed to halve import duties on British whiskey from 10% to 5% and approved visa-free travel for Britons visiting China within 30 days, Downing Street said. Meanwhile, British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca plans to invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand drug manufacturing and research and development there.

Mr Starmer brought a delegation of around 60 British business executives and organizational leaders on the trip. He hailed the agreement on visa-free travel and lower whiskey duties as “really important access and emblematic of what we’re doing in this relationship.”

Britain’s diplomatic shift appears to mirror that of Canada, which signed a trade deal with China earlier this month following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit, as Ottawa looks to diversify its trade and investment partners amid continued friction with Washington.

“It’s even more dangerous for Canada to do business with China,” Trump said of Canada, according to Reuters. “Canada isn’t doing well…We can’t ask China for answers.”

“President Xi is a friend of mine and I know him very well…The first thing they’re going to do is say we’re not allowed to play ice hockey anymore. Canada won’t like that,” Trump said.

President Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on Canadian goods if Ottawa goes ahead with a trade deal with China, a reversal from his previous comments that such a deal could be a “good thing.”

In an interview with Bloomberg before his visit to Beijing, Starmer said Britain did not have to choose between the United States and China and could continue to strengthen its economic relationship with China without angering President Trump or damaging relations with the United States.

“We have a very close relationship with the United States, and of course we want to, but we will maintain that business alongside security and defense,” he said.

“Starmer is wary of alienating Washington, but Britain’s squeezed position between the two superpowers is structural, not a habit of the Trump administration,” said Gabriel Wildo, managing director at political consultancy Teoneo.

Mr Wildau suggested a wide-ranging UK-China trade deal was unlikely because Mr Starmer was seeking a “rebalancing” of Britain’s external relations rather than a structural reset with China, which could attract “unwanted attention” from Western allies.

He added that a similar diplomatic stance applies to other “mid-level” leaders who have visited China in recent months.

Western leaders, shaken by President Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy and “America First” policies, are considering closer ties with Beijing, even at the risk of provoking him.

Since November, Beijing has hosted French President Emmanual Macron, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Olpo, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil, and Irish Prime Minister Michael Martin, making it the first visit by an Irish leader in 14 years.

“Rather than restructuring, these governments are pursuing selectivity by creating issue-specific coalitions with China and other countries to reduce dependence on the United States,” Wildau said.