Must Starmer fight either Trump or EU over trade?

There is only one politician Keir Starmer really detests - Boris Johnson.

- ANDREW GRICE

Yet the prime minister is about to ape one of Johnson's favourite ploys by trying to have his cake and eat it.

Starmer faces an agonising dilemma: when Donald Trump returns to the White House, he is expected to impose tariffs of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent on all imports to the US (with a 60 per cent tariff on China). Should the UK try to secure a carve-out, perhaps by negotiating a trade deal with the US? Or should Starmer join forces with the EU, which will almost certainly impose tit-for-tat tariffs on American goods?

On the face of it, the PM will have to choose between alienating the world’s most powerful leader – just as the UK tries to preserve the much-vaunted special relationship – and jeopardising his drive to reset relations with the EU to aid the UK economy.

Trump might well try to impose what opinion pollsters call a “forced choice” on the UK, with no “don’t know” option. But ministers tell me Starmer regards it as a false choice. “The goal is to lean into the US without alienating the EU,” one insider said. “But it will be very difficult to achieve.”