US President Donald Trump greets Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a summit on Gaza, Egypt, in Sharm el-Sheikh on Oct. 13, 2025.
Evan Vucci | Afp | Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday reportedly warned the U.K. that it would be “very dangerous” for the country to do business with China, after London and Beijing announced steps aimed at mending ties.
After years of strained relations, China and the U.K. are looking to develop a long-term strategic partnership following a high-stakes meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer is on a 4-day visit to China, the first trip by a British prime minister in eight years, signaling an attempt at resetting bilateral ties.
On the sidelines of premiere of the “Melania” film at the Kennedy Center, Trump was asked to comment on Starmer’s efforts to get into business with China, and he said that “it’s very dangerous for them to do that,” Reuters reported.
China on Thursday agreed to halve its import tariffs on British whisky to 5% from 10% and confirmed visa-free travels for British nationals visiting China for under 30 days, according to Downing Street. Meanwhile, British drugmaker AstraZeneca will invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development in the country.
Starmer has brought a delegation of nearly 60 British business executives and organization leaders on this trip. He hailed the agreements on visa-free travel and lowering whisky tariffs as “really important access, symbolic of what we’re doing with the relationship.
U.K.’s diplomatic shift appears to mirror that of Canada which signed a trade agreement with China earlier this month following a visit by Prime Minister Mark Carney, as Ottawa appears to diversify trade and investment partners amid persistent frictions with Washington.
On Canada, Trump said that “it’s even more dangerous for Canada to get into business with China. Canada is not doing well … You can’t look at China as the answer,” Reuters reported.
“President Xi is a friend of mine, I know him very well … The first thing they’re going to do is say you’re not allowed to play ice hockey anymore. Canada’s not going to like that,” Trump said.
Trump has threatened to impose a 100% tariff on Canadian goods if Ottawa moved forward with a trade deal with China, in a sharp reversal from his previous comments that such a deal could be “a good thing.”
Before his trip to Beijing, Starmer said in an interview with Bloomberg that Britain would not have to choose between the U.S. and China, saying that the country can continue to strengthen economic ties with Beijing without angering Trump or harming relations with the U.S.
“We’ve got very close relations with the US — of course, we want to — and we will maintain that business, alongside security and defense,” he said.
“Starmer is wary of alienating Washington. But the U.K.’s squeezed position between the two superpowers is structural, not a quirk of the Trump administration,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director at political consultancy Teoneo.
Optionality, rather than a full reset
Wildau suggested a broad U.K.-China trade deal is unlikely as Starmer is pursuing a “re-balancing” of the country’s foreign relations, rather than a structural reset with China that may attract “unwanted attention” from Western allies.
The same diplomatic posturing applies to other “middle power” leaders who have visited China in recent months, he added.
A flurry of Western leaders, unsettled by Trump’s unpredictable foreign policy and “America First” agenda, have been weighing closer ties with Beijing — even at the risk of provoking Trump.
Since November, Beijing has hosted French President Emmanual Macron, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil and Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin — the first visit by an Irish leader in 14 years.
“Rather than realignment, these governments are seeking optionality by creating issue-specific coalitions with China and each other to reduce dependence on the U.S.,” Wildau noted.
