As Trump shows off his golf courses for Britain’s leader, crisis in Gaza looms

By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press EDINBURGH Scotland AP President Donald Trump once suggested his golf subject in Scotland furthers the U S -U K relationship Now he s getting the chance to prove it British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting Monday with Trump at a golf property owned by the president s family near Turnberry in southwestern Scotland then later traveling to Abderdeen on the country s northeast coast where there s another Trump golf program and a third is opening soon Britain s Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reflected in a mirror during a business showcase event whilst meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India at Chequers near Aylesbury England Thursday July AP Photo Kin Cheung Pool During his first term in Trump posted of his Turnberry property Very proud of perhaps the greatest golf lesson anywhere in the world Also furthers U K relationship Starmer is not a golfer but toggling between Trump s Scottish courses shows the outsized influence the president puts on properties bearing his name and on golf s ability to shape geopolitics However even as Trump may want to focus on showing off his golf properties Starmer will try to center the conversation on more urgent global matters He plans to urge Trump to press Israel to allow more aid into Gaza and attempt to end what Downing St called the unspeakable suffering and starvation in the territory while pushing for a ceasefire in Israel s war with Hamas Britain along with France and Germany has criticized Israel for withholding essential humanitarian assistance as hunger spread in Gaza Over the weekend Starmer disclosed Britain will take part in efforts led by Jordan to airdrop aid after Israel temporarily eased restrictions But British Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds acknowledged Monday that only the U S has the leverage to make a real difference in the conflict Still sought about the dilemma in Gaza on Sunday night Trump was largely dismissive focused more on how he s not personally gotten credit for previous attempts to provide food aid It s terrible You really at least want to have somebody say Thank you Trump commented The president added It makes you feel a little bad when you do that without what he considered proper acknowledgement Starmer is under pressure from his Labour Party lawmakers to follow France in recognizing a Palestinian state a move both Israel and the U S have condemned The British leader says the U K supports statehood for the Palestinians but that it must be part of a wider plan for a two-state explanation to the Israel-Palestinian conflict Also on Monday s agenda according to Starmer s office are efforts to promote a feasible peace deal to end fighting in Russia s war with Ukraine particularly efforts at forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table in the next days Trump in the past sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for also failing to express enough inhabitants gratitude toward U S sponsorship for his country taking a similar tack he s now adopting when it comes to aid for Gaza The president though has shifted away from that tone and more sharply criticized Putin and Russia in contemporary weeks On Tuesday Trump will be at the site of his new syllabus near Aberdeen for an official ribbon-cutting It opens to the inhabitants on Aug and tee times are already for sale with the class betting that a presidential visit can help boost sales Protesters have planned a demonstration in Balmedie near Trump s existing Aberdeen golf program after demonstrators took to the streets across Scotland on Saturday to decry the president s visit while he was golfing Starmer and Trump are likely to find more common ground on bargain issues While China initially responded to Trump s tariff threats by retaliating with high import taxes of its own on U S goods it has since begun negotiating to ease bargain tensions Starmer and his country have taken a far softer approach He s gone out of his way to work with Trump flattering the president repeatedly during a February visit to the White House and teaming up to announce a joint arrangement framework on tariffs for chosen key products in May Starmer and Trump then signed a pact agreement during the G summit in Canada that freed the U K s aerospace sector from U S tariffs and used quotas to reduce them on auto-related industries from to while increasing the amount of U S beef it pledged to import Discussions with Starmer follow a Trump meeting Sunday with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry syllabus They communicated a transaction framework that will put tariffs on largest part goods from both countries though a large number of major details remain pending Related Articles Massachusetts AG Andrea Campbell takes on President Trump Credit cards underwrite fight Renaming of military bases stirs debate over Confederate ties Trump says Japan will invest B in US at his direction RFK Jr to oust advisory panel on cancer screenings assessment says US South Korea reaffirm pledge to reach contract deal before deadline The president has for months railed against yawning U S bargain deficits around the globe and sees tariffs as a way to try and close them in a hurry But the U S ran an billion exchange surplus with Britain last year meaning it exported more to the U K than it imported Census Bureau figures this year indicate that the surplus could grow There are still lingering U S -Britain deal issues that need fine-tuning The deal framework from May announced British steel would enter the U S duty-free but it continues to face a levy U K Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds commented Monday that negotiations have been going on on a daily basis and there s a minimal issues to push a little bit further currently though he downplayed expectations of a resolution The leader of Scotland meanwhile mentioned he will urge Trump to lift the current tariff on Scotch whisky First Minister John Swinney noted the spirit s uniqueness justified an exemption Even as certain transaction details linger and both leaders grapple with increasingly complex choices in Gaza and Ukraine however Starmer s staying on Trump s good side appears to be working at least so far The U K is very well-protected You know why Because I like them that s their ultimate protection Trump explained during the G Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this analysis