Trump says it is "dangerous" for the UK to do business with China

Donald Trump warned that Britain’s growing business ties with China are “very dangerous”, as Prime Minister Keir Starmer wrapped up high-level talks in Beijing aimed at rebooting the relationship between the two countries.

The US president made the comments while attending the premiere of a documentary about his wife, Melania, just hours after Starmer met Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People. When asked about the UK’s outreach to Beijing, Trump said: “It’s very dangerous for them to do that.” He later added that Xi was “a friend of mine” and that he knew the Chinese leader “very well”.

Trump reserved even sharper words for Canada, warning that closer economic ties with China were “even more dangerous” for Ottawa. “Canada is not doing well. They’re doing very poorly, and you can’t look at China as the answer,” he said, repeating threats to hit Canada with tariffs if it presses ahead with deals struck during a recent visit to Beijing.

In London, the reaction was swift. Business minister Sir Chris Bryant said Trump was “wrong” and argued it would be “bonkers frankly for the UK to ignore the presence of China on the world stage”. He also pointed out that Trump himself is expected to visit China in April.

Downing Street stressed that Washington had been aware of Starmer’s trip and its goals ahead of time, playing down any suggestion of a diplomatic rift. Officials have repeatedly said the UK does not see its China policy as a choice between Beijing and Washington.

Starmer, the first British prime minister to visit China since 2018, described his meetings with Xi as productive and said relations were now in a “good, strong place”. Speaking to business leaders in Beijing, he said: “We warmly engaged and made some real progress, actually, because the UK has got a huge amount to offer.”

The visit has already produced a string of agreements, including visa-free travel for Britons to China for up to 30 days, lower tariffs on Scotch whisky, and a £10.9bn AstraZeneca investment to expand manufacturing in the country. The two sides also agreed to cooperate on issues ranging from organised crime and illegal migration to cutting red tape for UK exporters and tackling antimicrobial resistance.

Business groups welcomed the renewed engagement. Chris Torrens, chair of the British Chamber of Commerce in China, called the trip “successful” and said it “makes sense for the UK to be looking to China, it’s one of its larger trading partners”.

Still, the trip has drawn criticism at home. Opposition MPs accused the government of downplaying national security risks and China’s human rights record, pointing to allegations of abuses against Uyghurs and the treatment of jailed Hong Kong media owner Jimmy Lai. Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said Starmer had “gone to Beijing to kowtow to President Xi”.

Starmer has pushed back on those claims, insisting engagement does not mean ignoring security concerns. “It doesn’t make sense to stick our head in the ground and bury in the sand when it comes to China,” he said. “It’s in our interests to engage and not compromise on national security.”

After Beijing, Starmer travelled to Shanghai before heading on to Tokyo for talks with Japanese prime minister Sanae Takaichi, as he continues a diplomatic push to strengthen the UK’s position amid an increasingly unpredictable global trade environment.