Sir Keir Starmer has said he wants to work with US president-elect Donald Trump amid concerns about how the pair will work together.
The Prime Minister insisted he wants to create a “good relationship going forward” with the re-elected president.
Sir Keir met with the US president-elect in New York last month before it emerged that Labour staff went to the US to campaign for his Kamala Harris.
The Trump campaign last month filed a legal complaint against Labour officials travelling to US battleground states to volunteer for his Democrat rival.
When Sir Keir was asked whether he was surprised to get on relatively well with Mr Trump, he said: “No, because my approach is to ensure that I have good relations with leaders across the world. I think that is very important.
“I think the best way to build good relations that are based on trust and respect is face to face, I’m a big believer in face-to-face engagement.
“And no, I intended and I think he intended when we met in New York to ensure that we can create a good relationship going forward – that’s the right thing to do, I think we’re both in that space, and it was positive and constructive then as it was in the call that we had on Wednesday.”
It comes as Mr Trump insisted he will impose tariffs on imports into the US from any country.
Sir Keir would not be pressed on whether he could secure a carve out for Britain or be willing to impose retaliatory tariffs if not.
The Prime Minister said: “I’m not going to get into a hypothetical discussion about policies before we actually get to those policies. So we’ll come back to it when we see what they actually are.”
Sir Keir was also asked whether a defence pact is a more urgent part of his EU reset because of Mr Trump’s re-election.
The Prime Minister, speaking after a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, said: “I want good relations with all of our allies, that’s really important – whether that’s the EU or the US.
“The EU – obviously European countries are our nearest trading partners and we have got a long shared history. Look at what we were dealing with with President Macron, which was reminding ourselves of 1918, reminding ourselves of every conflict since then.
“But equally the special relationship with the US was forged in difficult circumstances, it’s hugely important to the UK. I want to ensure we’ve got good relations with all of our important allies, and that includes the EU and the US.”
