Zhao Zhao was a journalist.

On September 16-18, US President Trump made a state visit to Britain, becoming the first U.S. President to make the highest standard visit to Britain twice. During his visit to Britain, Trump visited the castle of Windsor and the Chekes villa of the British prime minister's countryside, meeting with King Charles III of Britain and Prime Minister Stammer respectively. Though the British side prepared for this for months and arranged great ceremonies and national banquets, the trade and diplomatic differences between Britain and the United States have shaded Trump's shadow.

On September 17, U.S. President Trump examined the ceremonial team under the accompaniment of British King Charles III.

High standards and massive protests

On the evening of the 16th, Trump and Mrs. Melania arrived at the Stansted airport in London with the Air Force One, British Foreign Minister Cooper and other officials were welcomed. On the 17th, with Prince William and Princess Kate, the Trump couple visited Windsor Castle. The British side arranged a great welcome ceremony for the Trump couple, including ringing guns, horse cruise, inspection of ceremonies, British Air Force Red Rifle Special Flight Team and F-35 fighter jets also performed, the military band also performed, King Charles III and Queen Camilla met with the Trump couple, and held a national feast for them that evening. It is said that 1,300 officials from the British Army, Navy and Air Force participated in the welcome ceremony, the scale of the ceremony is the most visited by the British calendar.

Trump called the trip "an honor" before he departed, saying that the main purpose of the visit was to meet Charles III, "he perfectly represented the country, and was a gentleman of great spirit." According to Trump, his relationship with Britain was "very good" and "wants to see if it could be further improved (US) trade agreement." At the national banquet on the evening of 17th, Charles III said that Britain and the United States worked together in the two World Wars, and now as an ally will also be united. He said that Britain and the United States can also "go further" in economic cooperation. Trump thanked Britain for inviting him to a second state visit and described Britain's relations as "two signs in a string", saying the word "special" has been insufficient to describe the close relationship between the two countries.

On September 18th, British Prime Minister Starmer and US President Trump shook hands at a joint press conference.

On the 18th, Stammer held a meeting with Trump at the Chiks Villa, the official residence of the British prime minister in the countryside, and held a joint press conference after the meeting. That evening, the Trump couple ended their visit back home. This visit made Trump the first U.S. president to make a state visit to Britain twice. As usual, the U.S. president, if he visited Britain again after his first state visit, usually only had a tea party or lunch with the British monarch. Previously, Trump had made a state visit to Britain during his first presidency in 2019, when he was also welcomed by Queen Elizabeth II.

Although Trump received high-standard courtesy from the British side, and even couldn't hide his deliberate catering gesture, this visit attracted opposition from the British people. A group named "Stop Trump Alliance" organized a large-scale demonstration * in central London on the 17th, criticizing the Trump administration's policies in the fields of immigration, Gaza issue and climate change. London police estimated that about 5,000 people took part in the rally to protest.

The group also organized a gathering of hundreds of people near Windsor Castle a day earlier to protest Trump¡¯s visit to Britain. Demonstrators carried slogans with words such as ¡°hate can¡¯t make any country great¡± and shouted slogans such as ¡°leave Britain¡± and ¡°Britain does not welcome you.¡± Trump arrived in Britain that night, and the walls of Windsor Castle were also projected by demonstrators by a giant image of Trump and American wealthy businessman Epstein, who was in close contact with a large number of American political commercials and ¡°suicided himself¡± in prison after being arrested for sexual crimes.

This is the American flag and the British flag taken outside Windsor Castle on the outskirts of London, England on September 17th. Xinhua

The United States signs the Science and Technology Prosperity Agreement

Trump visited Scotland on a five-day private visit in late July, during which he unveiled the newly built McDonald¡¯s Golf Course for his family, named after Trump¡¯s mother Mary Ann McDonald¡¯s, the third stadium for the Trump family in Scotland. Previously, the Trump family operated the ¡°Trump International Golf Club¡± and a golf course called the ¡°Traditional Golf Course.¡±

Trump¡¯s visit to Scotland sparked protests in Scotland, where Scottish police said Trump¡¯s five-day visit carried a considerable amount of security costs. During that visit, Trump also met with EU Commission President Von der Leyen, who went to Scotland for a special trip, and both sides defined the framework of the U.S.-EU trade agreement.

Trump's invitation letter to visit the UK was personally submitted by British Prime Minister Starmer when he visited the White House at the end of February this year. Britain gave Trump enough face this time, but Starmer's trip to the White House was embarrassing. When Trump met Starmer at the White House, a reporter asked Trump: "If the peacekeeping troops that Britain will send to Ukraine are attacked by Russia, will you help?" Trump replied, "Britain and I are always together ¡­ but they don't need help." Starmer responded that Britain and the United States have always supported each other and are the most important prosperity and security allies in the world. Trump turned his head and asked Starmer, "Can you fight Russia alone?" Starmer could only laugh.

On February 27th this year, US President Trump greeted British Prime Minister Starmer at the White House. Xinhua Xinhua

Then, at a joint press conference between the two, reporters asked ¡°Is the British King worried about Trump¡¯s desire to annex Canada, a federal country?¡± Stammer said he had not discussed with Trump his remarks ¡°Canada should be the 51st state of the United States,¡± a question attempting to ¡°seek a discrepancy that doesn¡¯t exist at all¡± between Britain and America.

During Trump's visit to the UK, Britain and the United States signed the Science and Technology Prosperity Agreement, focusing on cooperation in technical fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing and civil nuclear energy. Top American technology and artificial intelligence companies such as Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, the Open Artificial Intelligence Research Center (OpenAI) and "Core Weaving" have pledged to spend 31 billion pounds to upgrade the UK's artificial intelligence infrastructure and cutting-edge technologies, covering data centers, Computer chips and the processing power behind artificial intelligence, etc.

Among them, Microsoft announced that it will invest £22 billion in the UK¡¯s AI infrastructure construction and operation, Microsoft¡¯s largest investment commitment to date in the UK; NVIDIA will partner with UK companies to deploy 120,000 advanced GPU chips in the UK, the company¡¯s largest deployment in Europe to date; Google announced the opening of a data center in Hertford, UK, as part of the company¡¯s two-year £5 billion total investment plan in the UK. In addition, the UK company Nscale has signed an agreement with NVIDIA and OpenAI to build the UK version of the ¡°Star Gate¡± project, and a partnership with Microsoft to build the UK¡¯s largest AI supercomputer.

On September 17, British King Charles III and Prince William spoke with US President Trump.

Differences on major issues are clear.

The British government said these investments would bring a ¡°quality change¡± in transatlantic relations, however, a recent survey by the Ipsos poll showed that only 36 percent of Britons believe there is a ¡°special relationship¡± between Britain and America at the moment.

In terms of trade, although the United Kingdom has reached a trade agreement, the United States still imposes high tariffs on British steel and aluminum products, the British side hopes to promote the implementation of more favourable terms, while the United States complains that U.S. pharmaceutical companies are being treated unfairly in the UK. In the Ukraine issue, Britain and its European allies still insist on supporting Ukraine, and Britain also pursued with France to seek to send ground troops to Ukraine after the end of the conflict in Ukraine as part of the security guarantee for Ukraine. At the same time, Britain is also concerned that the Trump administration will soften relations with Russia, and Stammer has visited the White House with several European political groups such as French President Macron, "supporting the waist" for Ukrainian President Zelensky's visit

During a visit to the U.S. in February, Stammer said Britain would do its utmost to provide more military aid to Ukraine and bear more responsibility for safeguarding European security. At a time when he disagreed with Trump over whether European countries could recover U.S. funds, Trump claimed that ¡°they (European countries) can recover their money by giving (Ukraine) money, but our money won¡¯t be recovered.¡± Stammer publicly rejected that much of U.S. aid was donated and won¡¯t be recovered. Trump also refused to make any explicit promises about U.S. security to Europe. Due to U.S. ambiguity, it prompted Britain and France to consider providing a ¡°nuclear umbrella¡± to European allies. The Strategic Defense Assessment released in

On September 18th, US President Trump and his wife Melania returned to the White House after finishing their state visit to Britain. Xinhua Xinhua

In Palestine, the ruling Labour Party has increasingly criticized Israel, with one-third of Cabinet members urging Stammer to recognize the Palestinian state, more than 130 Labour MPs signing letters in support of the call, and voices claiming that Israel is conducting ¡°genocide¡± in the Gaza Strip, and Britain plans to formally recognize the Palestinian state during the United Nations General Assembly next week.

U.S. Secretary of State Rubio, who accompanied Trump¡¯s visit to Britain, just ended his visit to Israel. A previously unpublished diplomatic letter from the United States showed that any country that would take ¡°anti-Israel actions¡± during this month¡¯s General Assembly would be viewed as violating U.S. interests and would face U.S. diplomatic measures.

A former British diplomat said there were fundamental differences in British and American values and policies, "more profound than at any time since World War II."