Viscount Hood, Lord-in-Waiting, proper, greets U.S. President Donald Trump, heart, and First Lady Melania Trump as they disembark from Air Force One after arriving at London Stansted Airport in Stansted, UK, on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025.
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U.S. President Donald Trump‘s second state go to to the U.Okay. — and enterprise offers already introduced forward of the journey — aren’t solely a coup for the beleaguered British authorities however a much-needed confidence enhance.
BlackRock, Alphabet and Blackstone are simply a few of the corporations set to ink offers with the U.Okay., setting in movement multi-billion greenback investments in U.Okay. property. A raft of vitality offers have additionally been introduced, with the U.K. heralding a “golden age” in new energy partnerships, together with in nuclear energy.
These investments won’t solely create jobs, development and deeper cooperation between the allies, the U.Okay. hopes, however will probably be promoted as a vote of confidence in the nation.
London desperately wants that at a time when British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his ministers have been accused of harming enterprise sentiment and funding with recent tax rises.
But the U.Okay. has excessive hopes it could possibly obtain much more from Trump’s state go to because it rolls out the pink carpet for the president and first girl Melania.
CNBC takes a take a look at three key issues that Starmer will want from Trump’s journey.
Trade deal ‘incomplete’
The U.Okay. makes a lot of its “special relationship” with the U.S. and will barely comprise its pleasure at being the first nation to signal a commerce deal, or “economic prosperity deal” with the White House in May, significantly given the struggles its world allies had been having in their very own commerce negotiations with Trump.
The U.Okay. authorities’s potential to get on the proper aspect of the president was evident with the baseline 10% tariff it was given, with the deal additionally together with a 25% obligation on metal and aluminum exports to the States whereas the remainder of the world suffered a 50% levy.
As Trump and Starmer meet, with discussions set to happen at the prime minister’s countryside residence Chequers on Thursday, talks will undoubtedly contact upon making “commitments” in the commerce deal a actuality.
Speaking to reporters as he boarded Air Force One on Tuesday, Trump mentioned he was “into helping” the U.Okay. finesse the international locations’ commerce deal.
“They want to see if they can refine the trade deal a little bit,” he mentioned “We’ve made a deal, and it’s a great deal, and I’m into helping them,” he mentioned, including: “They’d like to see if they could get a little bit better deal. So, we’ll talk to them.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the press aboard Air Force One on September 16, 2025, during the flight to the United Kingdom.
Andrew Caballero-reynolds | Afp | Getty Images
Anthony Gardner, former U.S. Ambassador to the EU underneath President Barack Obama, instructed CNBC that the state go to was a possibility to finalize these preliminary agreements.
“Britain is a great place to invest, they are going to be a lot of announcements about investments, not only by financial firms, but otherwise, in the U.K.,” Gardner instructed CNBC’s “Europe Early Edition” on Tuesday.
“But I think a second, key objective here is to move ahead on the recent U.S.-U.K. trade deal, which remains incomplete. It’s not yet a real deal, and there’s still some important parts of that deal which remain to be filled in,” Gardner mentioned.
Zero metal and aluminum tariffs
One of the key sticking factors in the commerce deal is over metal and aluminum tariffs, with the U.Okay. desperate to see these 25% duties lowered to zero, as promised in the original trade deal blueprint.
That’s a moot level for the Labour authorities because it appears to be like to avoid wasting jobs in the precarious metal trade in Britain, which has seen a number of metal vegetation shut in latest yr, or come underneath menace.
The U.S. accounts for 7% of the U.Okay.’s whole metal exports, with the commerce value £370 million ($505 million), in 2024, according to UK Steel. Industry leaders in the U.Okay. say most metal merchandise which are exported to the States are of a specialist, high-value nature, and aren’t undercutting U.S. home market.
The U.Okay.’s hopes would possibly effectively be dashed. On Wednesday, the BBC reported {that a} proposed deal to eradicate tariffs on UK metal exports appeared to have been put on hold indefinitely.
Confidence enhance
The British authorities will definitely be in search of a confidence enhance from Trump’s go to, with enterprise offers a serious factor of that a lot wanted uplift to sagging morale each amongst the Labour management and enterprise neighborhood.
The U.Okay. authorities is going through mounting challenges on the dwelling entrance, with Starmer’s management underneath stress. In the final fortnight alone, Starmer’s Deputy Prime Minister and shut ally Angela Rayner has resigned after a home tax scandal, triggering a serious cupboard reshuffle.
Then, Starmer sacked the U.Okay.’s Ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson over his hyperlinks to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, with the prime minister’s judgment and integrity referred to as into query by his preliminary appointment of Mandelson. Starmer mentioned he was not totally conscious of the depth of Mandelson’s friendship with Epstein at the time he was given the ambassadorial submit.
“This comes at a very opportune moment for both leaders and for both countries where they will be hoping for this bonhomie, this unity projection that they’re going to have,” Lindsay Newman, geopolitical danger skilled and columnist at GZERO, instructed CNBC on Tuesday.
“There are many deals that have been previewed, there is business that will be had, but this is really about shifting the narrative for these countries and saying: ‘Hey, we are here, the Transatlantic partnership, the ‘special relationship’ still exists, it’s still quite vibrant, and we’re going to be global players,'” she added.
U.S. Trade Secretary Scott Bessent was upbeat forward of the state go to, telling CNBC that the president was trying ahead to being the visitor of King Charles III in Windsor on Wednesday.
“He is the only leader ever to be given two state visits, it’s going to be a fantastic day tomorrow … it’s going to be an incredible few days,” Bessent instructed CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”