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DONALD TRUMP TOOK a softer tone on Ukraine truce talks Thursday as he hosted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer – but refused to give any firm commitments on the US security guarantees Europe desperately wants.
In an upbeat meeting, the US president handed Starmer a win on a possible trade deal, while the British leader pandered to Trump’s love of the royal family with a invitation for a state visit from the UK’s King Charles.
Trump, who has alarmed European capitals with his sudden pivot towards Russia, said there had been “a lot of progress” towards a deal to end the conflict in Ukraine and that negotiations were at a crucial stage.
“It’ll either be fairly soon or it won’t be at all,” Trump told a press conference with Starmer.
Trump showed favour to Starmer at points, listing out the locations he owns propery in one exchange. However, he appeared to forget that Co Clare is not in the UK when mentioning his “great” hotel and golf course in the Irish county.
“I own Turnberry, I own Aberdeen, and I own a great place called Doonbeg in Ireland. So, I have a great warm spot for your country,” Trump told Starmer.
On more serious matters, the mercurial US president also played down an earlier rift with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which had compounded fears that Trump would cut out Ukraine from negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“I have a lot of respect for him,” Trump said of Zelenskyy.
Earlier in the Oval Office he also walked back an earlier jibe that the Ukranian was a dictator, saying: Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that.”
But on the US security “backstop” that Britain and France want in exchange for deploying peacekeepers to Ukraine in the event of a deal with Russia to end the war, Trump remained non-committal.
The US president said he was “open to many things” in terms of security guarantees but that he wanted to get a Russia-Ukraine deal in place first.
Trump added that he thought Putin would “keep his word” — rejecting Starmer’s warnings that a ceasefire without a US backstop would let Russia invade Ukraine again.
It made Starmer the second leader in the space of a week to leave Washington empty-handed on Ukraine, after French President Emmanuel Macron also tried to persuade Trump on Monday.
“We have to win the peace,” Starmer said at the joint news conference. “It can’t be peace that rewards the aggressor.”
But the British premier tried to show that he was willing to step up in Ukraine, as Trump repeatedly urges European nations to do contribute more to their continent’s defense.
“I’m clear that the UK is ready to put boots on the ground and planes in the air to support a deal,” Starmer said.
British officials had earlier called for US support including aerial and satellite intelligence, and air power if necessary.
Starmer may otherwise be heading home happy from a meeting with Trump, who praised him as a “tough negotiator.”
Trump held out the prospect of a “great” post-Brexit trade deal that could help Britain avoid the tariffs he has threatened against other countries at the start of his second term.
“He tried. He was working hard, I’ll tell you that,” Trump said with a chuckle when asked if the British premier had persuaded him not to impose the levies.
Trump added that it was possible they could end up with a “real trade deal”, meaning “tariffs wouldn’t be necessary”.
The remarks came a day after Trump announced sweeping 25% taxes on EU imports.
Tariffs, a tax placed on imported goods and services, could potentially place a €2.50 tax on every €10 worth of goods and services imported to the US, proving devastating to struggling small and medium businesses in Europe that trade across the Atlantic.
In a carefully choreographed moment in the Oval Office, Starmer also handed Trump a letter from the king inviting him for an unprecedented second state visit by a US president.
“This has never happened before,” said Starmer. “This is truly historic.”
The US president said he was “honored” and would attend with First Lady Melania Trump.
But on Ukraine, the world will now be carefully watching Trump’s meeting with Zelenskyy at the White House on Friday.
The two leaders will sign a huge deal giving Washington exclusive access to Ukraine’s rare minerals, which Trump has demanded as payback for US military aid to Kyiv.
“We’ll be dig, dig, digging,” Trump told reporters.
Zelenskyy had hoped the deal would contain US security guarantees but it appears to omit them.
Talks between US and Russian officials — launched after a shock phone call between Trump and Putin just over weeks ago — are continuing with Ukraine frozen out.
Putin said Thursday the initial talks “give some hope” of resolving “problems” like the Ukraine conflict.
But the Kremlin said giving back Ukrainian regions it claims to have annexed during its invasion — which Trump said was possible as part of a future peace deal — was “non negotiable.”
With reporting by Eoghan Dalton
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Every other world leader looks assured, credible, highly articulate and highly capable sitting beside Trump. Doesn’t matter that their popularity is declining at home, or that the domestic political situation is complicated. Trump meanwhile looks like a guy limited to advertising jingle level statements and reduced to side-stepping questions on public statements he made last week. You can’t fake being president and you can’t do that at every single public event.
@Numinous20111: US media never follow up when he avoids questions.
@James Fields:
@James Fields: Funniest Comment of the day
@Numinous20111: yet everyone flocks to him to grovel, must be doin something right
@Ethan Gannon: everyone still buys mcdonalds even though it’s bad for them, doesn’t mean McDonalds is good quality, just that it appeals to a part of the brain that isn’t about quality.
@Numinous20111: and what is the answer of the Irish one ?
they go for st Patrick’s day to clown a bit more !!!!
@James Fields: It’s treacherous to admire someone who denies the existence of the Irish State.
You should be deported.
@Numinous20111: Trump is just playing a game, albeit a very dangerous game.
@Numinous20111: Looks? Does that have anything to do with the 20 years of nothing in our infrastructure? not really.
@Numinous20111: trump can’t control his bowels either. Imagine the toxicity of comments if Biden or Harris couldn’t control their bowels. But with trump, it’s never mentioned.
@James Fields: Is our Teeshock not the greatest leader the world has ever seen?
@James Fields: Couldn’t lead a horse to water. A buffoon of the highest order and a pathological l1ar.
@James Fields: You couldn’t have come up with a better name than “James Fields” Vlad?
In front of the world lies clearly about the abundance of free speech in his country
Can’t believe some people called Joe Biden “Sleepy Joe”. Trump is in a fookin coma ffs! The guy just spouts word salad. He’s seriously lost the plot.
@Anthony Curran: “I invented the phrase ‘Word Salad’, it’s a great word… Probably the best word, have you heard of these words put together? They’re stupendous when put together. A lot of people they say that they came up with the phrase, but, no… It was just me. Have you heard of them put together like this? No. That’s because I coined the phrase. We’re thinking of marketing it. The Chinese wanted to invent it, but didn’t. It was all me.” – Trump
@Anthony Curran: Crawl into your ‘safe space’ you silly little libtard.
@Kieran Conroy: tards like him have TDS
@Anthony Curran: Biden couldn’t even read a teleprompter lol
@Meh Meh:
It’s a beautiful word,a really beautiful thing.
@James Fields: yer all a bunch of seriously warped individuals
@James Fields: excellent job? He forgot he called a fellow politician a dictator. He pulled a number out of his ass for his approval ratings. C’mon mate, just look at him. The US voted in a guy who flip flops his opinions on things the moment some fancy guy in a suit pulls him in for a chat. I’m starting to think the only reason republicans platformed this guy is because he was charming to his base but really easy to manipulate into doing literally whatever they want him to.
@Meh Meh: lol. Spot on
Obama got a plaza. Trump is not welcome in Ireland. He supposes he’s from “Europe” perhaps, didn’t ever think to look it up. Cheek of the absolute goon to call Doonbeg in the UK. SAP. Bring on the tarrifs, you complete orange turd. You’ll be more than welcome at the King’s table. Not Ireland.
@J B: Enjoy your €285bn trade deficit, yank.
@Meh Meh: Ireland will roll out the red carpet for President Trump, if he so chooses to visit, and rightly so
@James Fields:
Trump is welcome nowhere.
Not even in his own country.
If King Charles has invited him it’s because he has become a useful tool.
@Mary.E.:
It is simple, Trump has a weakness for shiny things…
Stop hating Trump and start playing him, he is an easy mark, he is pretty clueless on facts so tell him he is the greatest, give him something worthless but shiny that he can sell to his base as a win.
Then play on that vanity to get what you want…
If a parade outside Doonbeg gets us that, then give him a parade… Even offer to take down the windmills and build his wall for the course…
He can go back US and say Ireland built him a wall…
@J B: The Scottish people have told him they do not want him claiming to be part Scottish!
I can’t believe how naieve some of the comments are in this, imagine hating someone so much you’d rather a war to keep going, and imagine Irish people who think Irish people have sovereignty, the e.u. owns people’s rights, just like they own France, Germany, Romania, an so on
@Jonny Byrne: He thinks Doonbeg is in the UK. Enough said. You don’t just make a mistake like that and get away with it.
@Meh Meh: that is very true…. That type of retheric is punishable by death, what’s with the toxic score out of 10, while I’m writing a comment, I must be living in the States too long I’ve never seen that type of shit before
@Jonny Byrne: ARTICLE 5 of the Constitution:
Ireland is a sovereign, independent, democratic state.
@Meh Meh: That’s not quite true, he was talking about Scotland then Doonbeg then said “your” country to Starmer.
Without Europe, the USA is nothing. I hope Starmer is giving him the same lesson that Macron did. Ukraine has showed us that, nuclear weapons aside, Russia scares nobody.
Strange that Trump mockers seem like they want Trump to fail. So they actually want a world war while virtue signalling peace peace peace to get NGO money money money.
@thomas molloy: I admit to finding that very very odd too. We’ve had 3 horrible years of unmitigated death & destruction in that proxy war……if you were to read some of the commentary on here you’d actually be led to believe that President Trump finishing that pointless proxy war was some kind of negative thing. I think it’s fantastic that those young lads& lassies f that fantastic Nation now have a ln opportunity to reach adulthood in safety & stability
@thomas molloy: It’s actually laughable that America put this gobshyte in the White House. He makes Joe Biden look good. And that’s no mean feat!
@J B: pity Trump wouldn’t do something that actually benefits the American people instead of sticking his uninformed, ignorant nose into other countries affairs or randomly renaming parts of the planet.
@Anthony Curran: Biden gave permission to Ukraine to fire U.S. made missiles into Russia risking WW3. President Trump is trying to get a ceasefire. You are a complete muppet. You & your ilks hatred of Trump is irrational but then again you lot are not the most intelligent…
@Anthony Curran: President Trump is the greatest leader the world has ever seen
@Anthony Curran:
President Biden was normal.
He tried to make his country and the world a better place.
Trump’s aim is to rival Putin as the biggest Dictator .
Plunder other countries,and ruin his own.
@thomas molloy: considering that Trump makes up numbers and trusts the guy who has eroded any semblance of Russian democracy that even existed, and seems to be willing to call a different political leader a dictator and then forget about it, I’d argue that maybe he’s not the guy who’s going to actually bring about world peace.
@Kieran Conroy: irrational hatred? My brother in christ, Your peaceloving presudent Trump called Zelenaky “a dictator” with a “3% approval rating” last week and today is going “i said that? Oopsies”. He acts like an entire section of a different country is land he can turn into resorts and that he can just… Put all the people who live there into a different country while they build it up. People hate him because he doesn’t seem to know any basic political facts while having access to nuclear codes.
@thomas molloy: “Peace in our time” said Chamberlin! Then look what happened!
@thomas molloy: NGO money, Rare minerals money… Its all the same
Whether you like it or not we need Trump to harbour a deal with Putin,and XI Jiping , three of the most powerful men in the world. USA will not commit to boots on the ground to protect Europe but the mere fact that he can hold these guys at bay will be enough to sustain world peace, and protect us.
Sickens me having to watch world leaders massage Trumps Ego .I really feel for Ukraine, their President Valdemar Zelenskyy a true brave leader ,having to deal with Trump who insulted him last week and now is all over him like a rash when he sees a deal in sight, robbing Ukraine of its valuable minerals. History will record how Trump became Putins Puppet.
President Trump can walk on water, he is truly awesome
@Peter Sponge:
Would love to see that.
Preferably in mid Atlantic.
Hilarious, Starmer is weaker than our politicians ffs
@Peter Sponge: you’d soak up any sorta liquid Trump would spill…….
Some very deranged people on here…..Wake up journal,the cheek of yee begging for money and the place infested to the rafters.
@Jb Walshe: Exactly time for trolls like you to disappear
The magrats are so deluded that they didn’t even notice the crying lying orange thing mouthing off that whoever signed the trade agreement with Mexico and Canada was stupid , Only it was the orange thing himself that signed the agreement to his usual tacky fanfare in 2027 ,
@Robert Halvey: I know and can you imagine if he contributes to ending the war, what a truly awful president he’d be…
@Jonny Byrne: by forcing the Ukraines to give up territory and natural resources and rewarding the child killer Putin for savagery
He always takes a softer tone when he meets people in real life. That’s what cowards do.
2017 in his first term
Now that the mineral deal is sealed there is no doubt Trump will yield to the field
Trump doesn’t value, yet alone understands, strategic alliances. He loves Russia, hates Europe
Go figure. Trump also has no redeeming features.
Can’t stand Starmer but Trump seems to like him . Trump going soft on the UK is probably because he has a golf course in Scotland that he wants to turn it into a one billion golf resort capable of hosting the open championship.
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