UK PM Starmer says Trump has a point on European defence commitment, NY Times reports

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UK PM Starmer says Trump has a point on European defence commitment, NY Times reports

, Reuters - 2:06 AM ET 3/23/2025 default

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said U.S. President Donald Trump has a point that European countries must bear a greater burden for their collective self-defence, the New York Times said on Sunday.

"We need to think about defence and security in a more immediate way," he told the newspaper in an interview.

Starmer is trying to assemble a multinational military force that he calls a coalition of the willing to keep Ukraine's skies, ports and borders secure after any peace settlement, the report said.

On Trump, Starmer said, "On a person-to-person basis, I think we have a good relationship." But, he said, the U.S. leader's actions, from imposing a 25% tariff on British steel to berating President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine, had generated "quite a degree of disorientation".

(Reporting by Rhea Rose Abraham in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue and William Mallard)

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