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Thai, Cambodian Leaders Set for Peace Talks After Trump’s Tariff Deal Threats

(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet US President Donald Trump in Scotland on Monday in a bid to remove the remaining obstacles to their trade deal and press for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

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Starmer will travel to Trump Turnberry, the president’s golf course where he played during the weekend and hashed out a trade deal with the European Union on Sunday. The two leaders will then travel together for a private engagement in Aberdeen.

The UK is trying to finalize its trade deal with the US. Under the agreement reached in May, Trump pledged to remove tariffs on a quota of steel imports from Britain that currently stand at 25%. While other parts of the deal have come into force, the commitment on steel is proving problematic. Britain is also hoping to secure a carve out from potential pharmaceutical tariffs that Trump is mulling.

Asked on Sunday about the upcoming meeting with the Prime Minister, Trump said it would be “about a lot of things.” On the US-UK trade pact, he said: “It’s been a great deal. It’s been good for us. It’s been good for them. It’s a great trade deal for both, works out very well.”

Trump has set a deadline of Aug. 1 for countries to strike new terms with the US or face punishing levies. He and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday came to an understanding that will see US tariffs on most EU exports halved to 15%, staving off a damaging trade war.

The humanitarian crisis in Gaza will also be on the agenda. The US president said that he and Starmer would “be discussing a lot about Israel” following growing international outrage at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over starvation in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces paused some military operations against Hamas on Sunday to allow UN relief convoys to move in.

Starmer is expected to press for the US to help deliver a lasting ceasefire and will applaud Trump’s recent efforts with Qatar and Egypt to end the fighting.

“Only the US can really make the kind of breakthrough as a third country that we need to see in terms of the end of this conflict,” UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said on Sky News on Monday. “They’re the ones with real leverage in this.”

Starmer will also hold an emergency cabinet meeting with top ministers this week amid pressure from backbenchers within the ruling Labour Party to follow France and recognize Palestine as a state.

Treasury Minister James Murray said on Sunday the UK is committed to such a move, though it would be part of a process to achieving lasting peace in the region.

“The prime minister has been unequivocal in being clear that we support the recognition of a Palestinian state,” Murray told Times Radio. “What’s important though is not a question of if but it’s a question of when we do that as part of a process.”

A spokesperson for Number 10 said Trump and Starmer are likely to discuss “what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.”

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Sunday said access to aid in Gaza must be “urgently accelerated.” He added: “The humanitarian suffering in Gaza has reached new depths. A temporary pause by the IDF to allow humanitarian corridors to open and aid drops to resume is essential but long overdue.”

In his meeting with Trump, Starmer will also discuss what pressure could be applied on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.

--With assistance from Joe Mayes and William Selway.

(Updates with Reynolds comment from eighth paragraph.)