Strained US-UK alliance in spotlight as King Charles makes state visit
President Donald Trump will host King Charles III and Queen Camilla at the White House for a highly anticipated state visit this week as the "special relationship" between the United States and the United Kingdom is under a microscope amid the war with Iran.
"I look forward to the dinner. We're having King Charles come; he's a friend of mine. We're really looking forward to it, we've spoken, and we're going to have a great time," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last week.
While Trump has repeatedly praised King Charles as a "friend" whom he's known for years, his relationship with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been another story as the president has repeatedly assailed the U.K. and other NATO allies over the U.S. and Israeli war with Iran.
"This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with," Trump said of Starmer in March as he criticized the U.K. for not doing more to support the war.
Starmer has waved off concerns about the relationship between the two countries.
"The special relationship is in operation right now," Starmer said in the wake of Trump's comments last month. "We are working together in the region, the U.S. and the British working together to protect both the U.S. and the British in joint bases, where we're jointly located and we're sharing intelligence on a 24/7 basis in the usual way."
Trump says visit could help repair damage
Amid his criticism of the U.K.'s support of the war with Iran, Trump said the Charles' visit -- the U.K.'s constitutional and ceremonial head of state -- may help restore any damaged ties between the two allies.
"Absolutely. He's fantastic. He's a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes," Trump told the BBC in a phone interview on Thursday when asked if the visit could help repair the relationship.
But whether pomp and circumstance with the king will translate into real geopolitical gains remains to be seen. Trump told Reuters in a phone interview on Friday that he was "going to talk about everything" with the king, including Iran, NATO and the U.K.'s digital services tax.
"I like Starmer, but..."
While Charles will officially represent the U.K. on the visit, Trump has repeatedly attacked Starmer, the U.K.'s top elected official, since the start of the war with Iran on issues both foreign and domestic.
Amid rising global oil prices, Trump has renewed his call for Starmer to begin drilling for oil in the North Sea and criticized the prime minister for his handling of immigration.
"I like Starmer, but I think he's made a tragic mistake in closing the North Sea oil. You see, your energy prices are the highest in the world. And I think he's made a tragic mistake on immigration," Trump told the U.K.'s Sky News on April 14.
The president has even gone as far as to compare Starmer to Neville Chamberlain -- the British prime minister infamous for his appeasement policy towards Nazi Germany before World War II -- over Starmer's purported refusal to send the U.K.'s navy to the Middle East at the start of the war.
"He made a public statement that we will send equipment after the war is over. It was a -- well, you know, that's a Neville -- Neville Chamberlain-type statement, and Germany, the same thing. He said, 'We didn't start this war.' Well, we helped them with Ukraine," Trump told Fox News on April 12 about efforts to arm Ukraine in its war with Russia.
I response to Trump's comments, Starmer said, "We do have mine-sweeping capability, I won't go into operational matters, but we do have that capability -- that's all focused, from our point of view, on getting the strait fully open."
But he reiterated his position that the U.K. would not join the conflict.
"My decision has been very clearly that whatever the pressure -- and there's been some considerable pressure -- we're not getting dragged into the war. The U.K. is not getting dragged in," he said. "That's not in our national interest, because I’m not going to act unless there’s a clear, lawful basis and a clear thought-through plan.”
Trump expressed surprise in a meeting with his Cabinet on March 26 that Starmer did not do more to send support to the U.S. amid the war.
"I think he's [Starmer] a lovely man, I do. I think he's a lovely man, but I think he did something that was shocking; he didn't want to help us. And maybe in particular that country, you know, the longest bond, the longest ally, Australia, too. Australia was not great," he said.
Moments later, Trump questioned whether the U.S. would be there for the U.K. and NATO in the future.
"I mean, we're always going to be there -- at least we were, I don't know about it anymore, to be honest with you, I have to be honest. We were always there when they needed help, we always would have been there when they needed help," Trump said.
But asked whether the political fallout from the war would impact his visit with Charles, Trump said no.
"No, he's a friend of mine. He's a great gentleman. As you know, he honored me and our country; he really honored our country. But we had an amazing time. I've known him as Prince Charles; I know him as King Charles," Trump said.
"I'm proud of him. He's fighting a tough battle. He's tough," Trump added. "He's going to be here very soon, as you know, we're going to have a state dinner, it's going to be great."
