President Donald Trump’s “unprecedented” second state visit to the United Kingdom will turn to politics on Thursday as he ends his and heads to the countryside to meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer welcomed Trump to Chequers, a 16th-century manor house located northwest of London, which serves as a rural retreat for British leaders.
The leaders are expected to sign a “tech prosperity deal” that U.K. officials say will bring thousands of jobs and billions in investment in artificial intelligence, quantum computing and .
The deal includes a U.K. arm of Stargate, a Trump-backed AI infrastructure project led by OpenAI, and a host of AI data centers around the U.K. American firms are announcing 31 billion pounds ($42 billion) investment in the U.K.’s AI sector, including $30 billion from Microsoft for projects including Britain’s largest supercomputer.
While most of the events will be held behind closed doors, a bilateral meeting in front of cameras is sure to bring up a host of topics, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, Israel’s war in Gaza, and tariffs.
Talks on on steel and aluminum from 25% have stalled, despite promises in May that it would be settled in weeks. The British Chambers of Commerce said failure to cut the tariffs would be “greeted with dismay” by the British steel industry.
During Trump’s , the two were quick to discuss the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Trump expressed his frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin for shunning peace negotiations while Starmer continued his efforts to shore up U.S. support for Ukraine.
The king highlighted the strength of the trans-Atlantic relationship in his , noting that “as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace.”
Last week, Trump signaled he was ready to move forward with a after the largest attack on Ukraine since 2022 struck a Kyiv government building, and more than 800 drones were deployed.
Meanwhile, the British government has been increasingly critical of the war in Gaza.
Starmer announced in July that the U.K. will in September unless Israel agrees to “end the appalling situation in Gaza” and agrees to a ceasefire.
The meeting also comes days after the U.K.’s ambassador to the United States, over his links to the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.