PM wants to increase trade with ‘sovereign' Canada

Starmer underlines support for Ottawa in dispute with US

- DAVID MADDOX

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.”