President Trump received an invitation Thursday from King Charles to attend a second state visit in the UK — despite second-term presidents not being offered such an honor.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer presented Trump with the royal invitation from the King during their meeting in the Oval Office, with the president quickly accepting.
“This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented, and I think that just symbolizes the strength of the relationship between us,” Starmer said, calling the last state visit a “tremendous success.”
Trump responded, “The answer is yes.”
“On behalf of our wonderful first lady Melania and myself, the answer is yes, and we look forward to being there and honoring the King and honoring, really, your country. Your country is a fantastic country, and it’ll be our honor to be there.”
No date was announced for the visit.
Queen Elizabeth II invited Trump for his first state visit in 2019, making him only the third US president to be invited for the official event during her 70-year reign.
Trump also said he would be visiting the UK in the near future.
Thursday’s meeting with Starmer is the first time the two leaders have worked together — but Trump noted that they had met before and have a great relationship.
The president said the two would be discussing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and resolving the three-year-long conflict.
The UK prime minister is the second European leader, after French President Emmanuel Macron, to talk face-to-face with Trump this week about their concerns regarding the president reaching a deal with Russia.
Starmer, on his way to Washington, told reporters he wants the US to help provide a “backstop” to ensure the war will have a lasting peace — but wants a security commitment from Trump.
The Labour Party leader announced an increase in UK military spending to 2.5% on Tuesday, just before his meeting with Trump.
Trump has yet to provide any specific points about what America’s role will be in Ukraine after a peace is reached, but has indicated that the mineral deal he hopes to sign with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will be a “sort of automatic security” since US workers will be on the ground.
Both France and the UK have said they would possibly be open to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine. Trump first said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin told him he would have “no problem” with the European soldiers in Ukraine — but then said he wants to talk about the specifics after a deal is signed.
Trump is set to meet with Zelensky on Friday at the White House to sign the mineral deal that would create a US-Ukraine fund to extract Ukrainian critical minerals.
The president called Zelensky a “dictator” last week amid calls for Ukraine to have new elections, but appeared to joke about the comment Thursday, saying, “I can’t believe I said that.”
“Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that, next question,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office about his previous Zelensky remark.
