The U.K.’s frantic lobbying for relief from Trump’s tariffs also appeared to bear fruit, as the U.S. president signed off on a deal at the June 15-17 G7 summit to remove some trade barriers between the two countries.
Trump has spoken unexpectedly warmly about the center-left Starmer at times, remarking at their G7 meeting in Canada: “We’ve become friends in a short period of time.”
Yet London doesn’t seem to have figured in Trump’s thinking at all this weekend, as he ignored European calls for renewed diplomacy and proceeded with strikes against three nuclear sites in Iran.
One U.K. official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said it was unsurprising given the “war” for Trump’s attention, and that it was “never clear who he would listen to on any given day” within his own team, let alone among foreign states.
De-escalation rebuffed
The British government has been publicly consistent in calling for de-escalation on Iran. Yet those pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
At the G7 gathering, Starmer insisted there was nothing to indicate Trump was preparing direct missile attacks on Iran, and as late as Friday Foreign Secretary David Lammy emerged from a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff believing Trump preferred a deal to strikes.