UK should ‘only’ host Trump visit if he ‘delivers’ on Ukraine says Sir Ed Davey

The UK should only host a state visit with Donald Trump if he “delivers” on support for Ukraine, Sir Ed Davey has said.

The Liberal Democrat leader described the idea of a state visit as “leverage” the UK would have over the president-elect when he returns to office next week, in an address in central London.

There have been concerns over what Mr Trump’s return to the White House will mean for US support for Kyiv. He had previously laid out a desire to bring an end to the conflict in his first days in office.

In the same speech, Sir Ed called on the Government to “negotiate this year a brand new deal with the EU” that would have “at its heart, a new UK EU customs union”.

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In his speech on Thursday morning, Sir Ed said the UK “must try and influence the Trump administration to do the right thing”, but said that there is “no choice but to deal with the Donald” when it comes to defence.

He said the UK has “leverage” as the president-elect “craves” a visit, but it should only be granted following a sit-down summit that would examine financial support for Kyiv.

Sir Ed said: “We have something Trump desperately wants: a state visit.

“The pageantry at Buckingham Palace. A banquet with the King. People know he craves it, so I say we give it to him, but only if he delivers what we need first for Britain and Europe’s defence and security.”

He said Mr Trump should “sit down with President Zelensky and other European leaders in a summit convened by the UK to agree how we collectively use the hundreds of billions of dollars, pounds and euros of frozen Russian assets to pay for the weapons Ukraine needs to win the war and beat Putin.”

He later added: “If Trump delivers on that deal, pushing the necessary measures through Congress, then, and only then, do we roll out the red carpet for a state visit.”

The address – Sir Ed’s first major intervention of 2025 – also called on Sir Keir Starmer and the Government to negotiate a new deal with Brussels that has goods movement at its centre.

“Today I am calling on the Government to negotiate this year a brand new deal with the EU,” Sir Ed said.

“Not just tinkering around the edges of the botched deal the Conservatives signed four years ago, but negotiating a better deal for Britain that has at its heart a new UK EU customs union to come into force by 2030 at the latest.”

He also said that any deal should include a “reciprocal youth mobility scheme”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has committed to strengthening ties with the EU and said he wants a “better deal” for Britain post-Brexit, but has repeatedly ruled out rejoining the single market or customs union.

Sir Ed argued on Thursday that working with “partners in Europe and beyond” would help “protect our economy from whatever Trump decides to do” as well as defending security.

It comes ahead of the inauguration in Washington DC next week, which will see Mr Trump begin his second term in office. The president-elect has signalled he is willing to introduce tariffs on goods coming into the US, in a bid to protect America’s homegrown industries.

In recent days, the president-elect has spoken of establishing a new US government agency tasked with collecting revenue from tariffs.

Asked whether he thought a customs union with the EU would leave the UK more vulnerable to tariffs from the White House, Sir Ed said that the “whole world is vulnerable to any tariffs that tariff man decides to go for”, and there is “much to be gained” by “combining our strength with others”.

“If the EU has tariffs imposed on it and Brexiteers celebrate that, that shows they don’t understand economics, because those tariffs on Europe will hurt us here, and so we’ve got to be really careful about that, and that’s one of the reasons why (we) need to work with others” in the EU and elsewhere, he said.