Keir Starmer is to put trading relations with Canada back on track with a rebuke to Donald Trump and the tariffs which have sent global trade into turmoil.
The prime minister has flown out to Ottawa for a bilateral meeting with newly elected Canadian PM Mark Carney ahead of a G7 summit in Alberta next week.
Downing Street has made a point of wanting to “retain Britain’s status as a free and open trading nation”, as Sir Keir flew across the Atlantic.
The line was a direct rebuke to the strategy pursued by Donald Trump with his tariffs ahead of an expected bilateral meeting with the US president at the summit.
Nevertheless, the G7 summit is set to pivot from trade issues to the escalating conflict in the Middle East, as well as a failure to bring peace to Ukraine.
Speaking to journalists on the flight to Canada on Saturday, Sir Keir boasted of his relationship with Trump.
He said: “I have got a good relationship with President Trump, and that’s important, as you can see from the fact that we had a discussion yesterday about the urgent situation in relation to Israel and Iran. I think the G7 is our opportunity to look at, as we are, the global economy, security in that global economy, trade and the economy as well, and more matters of national security.”
He continued: “I’ve been saying, for probably the best part of six months now, we’re in a new era of defence and security, a new era for trade and the economy. And I think it’s really important for Britain to play a leading part in that, and that’s what I’ll be doing at the G7, talking to all of our partners in a constructive way.”
But he also made it clear that he would not accept claims by Trump that Canada is the “51 state of the US” after he caused anger earlier this year by failing to do that at a press conference in the White House.
Sir Keir said: “Canada and the US are our allies. Canada is an independent, sovereign nation, and quite right, too. And that’s the basis on which I’ve approached my discussions with all of our partners. I’m not going to get into the precise conversations I’ve had, but let me be absolutely clear: Canada is an independent, sovereign country and a much-valued member of the Commonwealth.”
The G7 summit will be the first for Sir Keir and Mr Carney since they were elected.
But it also brings back memories of 2018, the last time the G7 was in Canada, when President Trump caused chaos by unsigning the communique at the last moment in a fit of pique about remarks made by then-Canadian PM Justin Trudeau.
Despite this, Sir Keir knows he is still in a race against time to ensure that the trade deal he and Trump agreed last month is enacted and reduces tariffs. If he fails, UK steel could be hit with a tariff of 50 per cent rather than zero.
The trade talks with Mr Carney are not set to reopen the free trade agreement discussions, which the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch pulled the plug on last year when she was trade secretary in the Sunak government.
However, Sir Keir will emphasise the potential that further economic cooperation between the UK and Canada, as two like-minded nations, could achieve for the British people.
On the flight to Canada, the prime minister said: “I want to increase our trade with Canada and I will be discussing how we do so with Mark Carney. I have known Mark a long time, we are allies and colleagues and I have a very good relationship with him. We do a lot of trade with Canada as it is.
“Some months ago I said the world is changing on trade and the economy, just as it is changing on defence and security and I think that means we need to be more securing our base at home and turbocharging what we are doing on the cost of living and at the same time reducing trade barriers with other countries. I’ve been expressing that in my discussions with Mark Carney and he is in the same position.”
Sir Keir added: “The interests of British citizens – delivering for working people – is what guides me throughout all my conversations with international leaders.
“And everywhere I go, from the factory floor at Jaguar Land Rover to meeting submariners aboard a nuclear-powered submarine, I’m reminded of why that is the right approach.
“Because the decisions we make in government, whether at home or abroad, have profound impacts on the day-to-day lives of working people.
“And in these dangerous times, I am determined to forge a unique path to secure and renew Britain in an era of global instability.”
Sir Keir will use the visit to argue that in a shifting global economy, the UK must retain its proud status as a free and open trading nation, strengthening our existing alliances while reducing barriers to trade with other countries.
The UK and Canada already have trade worth £28bn to the UK economy, and Canada has welcomed the UK’s accession to the new global trading bloc known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The prime minister will say that he is open to going further on existing trade partnerships such as the CPTPP, as well as building better links with other trading blocs such as ASEAN and the EU.
He believes these partnerships offer huge economic benefits to the UK and working people and could act as significant catalysts for British jobs and growth.
