LONDON: Keir Starmer met Donald Trump in New York for a two-hour dinner, the first meeting for the new British Prime Minister and the former US President, media reports said on Friday.
Trump, the Republican nominee in November’s US election, hosted the Labour Party leader at Trump Tower on Thursday, the BBC, The Guardian and The Daily Mail reported.
Speaking ahead of the meeting, Trump told reporters: “I actually think he’s very nice. He ran a great race. He did very well. It’s very early. He’s very popular.”
Starmer won a landslide election victory in the UK’s July general election, ousting the Conservatives after 14 years in power.
Starmer said it was important for him to meet both candidates in the US election but that “diary challenges” meant it had not been possible to schedule a meeting with Vice President and Democrat nominee Kamala Harris.
“We’ve now got the opportunity to meet Trump, which is good,” he said.
Trump and Starmer were also joined by Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who has made scathing remarks about Trump in the past.
In 2018, Lammy called Trump “a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath.”
However, Lammy was more diplomatic earlier this year, saying in a speech that Trump’s “attitude to European security is often misunderstood.”
Starmer has taken a neutral stance on the US election, although experts say a Trump presidency could pose difficulties, particularly with doubts over the Republican’s support for NATO and Ukraine.
Starmer was in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly.
![]()
Trump, Starmer meet for two-hour New York dinner: reports
Short Url
https://arab.news/mmtvm
Trump, Starmer meet for two-hour New York dinner: reports
Nordic region seeks deeper ties with Greenland after Trump threats
- Treaty of Nordic cooperation was created in 1962
- Update of treaty would be ‘historic’, Danish minister says
COPENHAGEN: Nordic government ministers will meet in Denmark on Wednesday to discuss elevating Greenland and two other autonomous territories to equal status in a regional forum, boosting cooperation after US President Donald Trump’s push to control the Arctic island.
Denmark and its European allies have rejected Trump’s insistence that the Nordic country must hand Greenland to the United States, launching talks last month between Copenhagen, Nuuk and Washington to resolve the diplomatic standoff.
Wednesday’s meeting will focus on upgrading the Helsinki Treaty, adopted in 1962 by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, to give full rights to the Danish-ruled territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands as well as Finland’s Aland.
The autonomous regions have for decades sought equal status in the Nordic forum, but were kept out of meetings focusing on security and related matters such as the war in Ukraine, leading Greenland’s government in 2024 to boycott the format.
“An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic co-operation,” Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Morten Dahlin, said in a statement.
Greenland will actively participate in creating a commission to update the agreement, the island’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said in the statement.
“The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognized as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation,” Motzfeldt said.
While opinion polls have indicated that a majority of the island’s 57,000 people hope to one day gain independence from Denmark, many warn against rushing it due to economic reliance on Copenhagen and becoming overly exposed to the United States.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen earlier this month said that if Greenlanders were forced to choose between the US and Denmark, they would choose Denmark.
Denmark and its European allies have rejected Trump’s insistence that the Nordic country must hand Greenland to the United States, launching talks last month between Copenhagen, Nuuk and Washington to resolve the diplomatic standoff.
Wednesday’s meeting will focus on upgrading the Helsinki Treaty, adopted in 1962 by Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, to give full rights to the Danish-ruled territories of Greenland and the Faroe Islands as well as Finland’s Aland.
The autonomous regions have for decades sought equal status in the Nordic forum, but were kept out of meetings focusing on security and related matters such as the war in Ukraine, leading Greenland’s government in 2024 to boycott the format.
“An update of the Helsinki Treaty will be a historic step and a future-proofing of Nordic co-operation,” Denmark’s minister for Nordic cooperation, Morten Dahlin, said in a statement.
Greenland will actively participate in creating a commission to update the agreement, the island’s Foreign Minister Vivian Motzfeldt said in the statement.
“The process surrounding the Helsinki Treaty will be decisive in determining whether Greenland can be recognized as an equal partner in Nordic cooperation,” Motzfeldt said.
While opinion polls have indicated that a majority of the island’s 57,000 people hope to one day gain independence from Denmark, many warn against rushing it due to economic reliance on Copenhagen and becoming overly exposed to the United States.
Greenland’s Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen earlier this month said that if Greenlanders were forced to choose between the US and Denmark, they would choose Denmark.
Latest updates
Recommended
© 2026 SAUDI RESEARCH & PUBLISHING COMPANY, All Rights Reserved And subject to Terms of Use Agreement.