Trump warns UK and Canada against trade deals with China
Photo: Donald Trump (Getty Images)
US President Donald Trump warns the United Kingdom and Canada against signing new business deals with China after leaders from both countries visited Beijing in January to deepen ties with the world's second-largest economy, Bloomberg reports.
"It’s very dangerous for them to do that," Trump says in response to a reporter's question about Prime Minister Keir Starmer's trip, which marked a warming in relations between Britain and China.
He then immediately comments on Canada, saying that the situation there was even worse.
"It’s even more dangerous, for Canada to get into business with China. Canada is not doing well. They’re doing very poorly, and you can’t look at China as the answer," the US President says at the premiere of a documentary about First Lady Melania Trump.
Trump's criticism came hours after Starmer met with Chinese President Xi Jinping and made progress in securing greater access for British companies to Chinese markets.
On Friday in Beijing, Starmer told business leaders that he had had very warm meetings with Xi Jinping, which had provided the expected level of engagement.
He praised the visa-free travel agreement and the reduction in whisky tariffs, calling them a "really important access, symbolic of what we’re doing with the relationship."
The British government said earlier that China would relax rules for British tourists and business travelers, allowing them to enter the country without a visa for stays of less than 30 days. The move puts the United Kingdom on an equal footing with countries such as Australia, France, Germany, Italy, and Japan.
Starmers' visit is the first such trip by a British Prime Minister in eight years, and its goal is to restore relations undermined by disputes on a wide range of issues, from Hong Kong to espionage.
His trip follows a visit by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who scrapped previously imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, bringing them in line with American ones.
Starmer, for his part, insists that the United Kingdom can cooperate with Xi without damaging its special relationship with the US, even though his call for engagement with China could undermine Washington's efforts to limit China's global influence.
Trump and his pressure on China and beyond
On January 24, Donald Trump threatened to impose a 100% tariff on all Canadian goods if the country signs a trade agreement with China.
A few days later, Mark Carney responded to the situation, stating that Ottawa had no plans to sign a free trade agreement with Beijing.
However, the confrontation did not end there, and relations between the countries continue to deteriorate.
On January 23, Trump withdrew Canada's invitation to join the Board of Peace, and last night, Trump announced that the US would revoke the certification of all Canadian aircraft and could impose a 50% tariff on them if Ottawa did not reconsider its refusal to certify American Gulfstream business jets.
