Starmer throws Mark Carney under the bus over China ties

Keir Starmer effectively threw ally Mark Carney under the bus today as he insisted Donald Trump was only cross with Canada's push for closer ties to China.

The PM insisted the US president's ire was aimed at Ottowa rather than London as he was grilled during his visit to Shanghai.   

Mr Trump hit out at 'very dangerous' attempts to improve relations with China when he was asked about Sir Keir's trip overnight.

The intervention raises fresh doubts about the health of the Special Relationship, and raises the prospect of Sir Keir having to choose between Beijing and Washington. 

However, Sir Keir tried to duck any confrontation this afternoon by telling broadcasters that Mr Trump was 'talking more about Canada than the United Kingdom'.

The US has threatened to slap 100 per cent tariffs on imports from Canada if Mr Carney - who also visited China earlier this month - enters into a free trade agreement with the Asian power.

The Canadian premier gave a significant speech at the Davos summit last week calling on middle ranking countries to unite and defend the global rules-based system.

It came after Mr Trump threatened to use economic coercion and even military force to take Greenland from Nato ally Denmark. 

Mr Trump was asked at the premiere of the new documentary about his wife Melania what he thought 'about the UK getting into business with China' following Sir Keir's lengthy talks with President Xi Jinping on Thursday that led to cuts to whisky tariffs and visa-free travel for Brits.

Mr Trump replied: 'Well, it's very dangerous for them to do that.'

He went on to repeat his criticism of Sir Keir's ally Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, for seeking a free trade deal with China.

'It's even more dangerous, I think, for Canada to get into business with China,' President Trump told reporters.

'Canada is not doing well. They're doing very poorly, and you can't look at China as the answer.'

But he added: 'I know China very well. I know President Xi is a friend of mine.'

In a round of interviews with broadcasters in China today, Sir Keir told Sky News: 'I've seen President Trump's comments.

'I think, to be fair, he was probably talking more about Canada than the United Kingdom.'

Adding that the US and UK remained 'very close allies', he said his visit to China had been discussed with Mr Trump's team beforehand and pointed to the president's upcoming visit to the country in April.

Mr Carney visited China earlier in January as the two countries sought closer economic ties, reaching a preliminary agreement to cut tariffs on selected goods.

Despite initially making positive comments about the deal, Mr Trump later threatened Canada with a 100 per cent tariff on exports if Ottawa entered into a free trade agreement with China, but Mr Carney denied any such plans.

His threat followed the row over his demand to annex Greenland, which saw Mr Carney give a speech at the World Economic Forum widely regarded as a rebuke to Mr Trump.

Touring broadcast studios this morning, trade minister Chris Bryant gave a blunter response than the PM, saying Mr Trump was 'wrong'.

He suggested that following Mr Trump's advice and refusing to engage with China would be 'absolutely bonkers' as it was a 'major power'.

Asked by Sky News about the US president's comments, Sir Chris said: 'Well, he also said that President Xi (Jinping) is a friend of his and that he's going to visit him in April.'

Sir Chris added: 'I agree that you of course you have to go into your relationship with China with your eyes wide open.

'You have to challenge China on the issues where we disagree with them and but you have to face the fact that China is a major power in the world.

'It's the second largest economy in the world, and it's our fourth largest export market.

'So it would be absolutely bonkers to the UK not to engage with China.'

The PM ended his talks with Xi with little more than warm words, having flown 5,000 miles with the promise of 'history-making' engagement.

Having hyped up the benefits the trip to Beijing would bring for Britain before he left, Sir Keir secured a halving of tariffs on whisky exports, plus the end of visas for tourists and businesses on short visits to China - something 50 other major countries including Germany and France already have.

Sir Keir failed to secure a commitment for the release of Jimmy Lai, the British democracy activist jailed in Hong Kong; or the lifting of sanctions on MPs and peers who have spoken out against China's human rights abuses.

The leaders also discussed Ukraine but there was no indication that Sir Keir persuaded president Xi to end his support for Russia.

Downing Street would not even say if Sir Keir – dubbed Kowtow Keir for allowing Beijing to build a mega-embassy in London – had raised the scandals of Chinese intelligence services trying to infiltrate Parliament or hacking the phones of aides to former Tory prime ministers.

No10 sparked fresh outrage by opening the door to Xi – who last came to Britain a decade ago under David Cameron's 'golden era' of close relations between the two countries – visiting the UK again.

Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has insisted Xi would not be allowed the honour of a speech to Parliament, after China sanctioned prominent MPs who had criticised the regime. 

'I'm the guardian of MPs. I'm there to protect them from sanctions. It would be wrong to let Xi into their workplace while these sanctions are in place,' he told The Times. 

Sir Chris sounded distinctly uncomfortable about the prospects of a visit when grilled on the issue this morning, stressing he was bound by collective government responsibility.

'I'm a government minister... of course we take all those issues that you just raised extremely seriously and I'm sure that they would factor into any discussions,' he told Sky News. 

Sir Keir had been asked on his way to Beijing if he was worried the trip to irritate the White House.

The PM had replied: 'The relationship we have with the US is one of the closest relationships we hold, on defense, security, intelligence and also on trade and lots of areas.

'We had a very successful state visit from President Trump last year which led to hundreds of billions of pounds being invested in each other's economies so it's a very important relationship.'

Sources stressed that the US was aware of the UK's objectives for the trip in advance.