Starmer visits Canada for trade talks with Carney ahead of G7 summit

Sir Keir Starmer is holding talks on trade and security with Mark Carney on the first visit by a UK leader to Canada in eight years, ahead of a major international summit.

The Prime Minister said the interests of British citizens would be at the heart of his conversations as he meets his Canadian counterpart, the former Bank of England governor, in Ottawa on Saturday.

Sir Keir will be walking a diplomatic tightrope between strengthening bilateral relations with Ottawa and keeping US President Donald Trump, who has expressed desires to annex the country as a 51st state, on side.

Speaking ahead of the talks with Mr Carney, the Prime Minister said: “The interests of British citizens – delivering for working people – is what guides me throughout all my conversations with international leaders.

“And everywhere I go, from the factory floor at Jaguar Land Rover to meeting submariners aboard a nuclear-powered submarine, I’m reminded of why that is the right approach.

“Because the decisions we make in government, whether at home or abroad, have profound impacts on the day-to-day lives of working people.

“And in these dangerous times, I am determined to forge a unique path to secure and renew Britain in an era of global instability.”

The UK and Canada have a trade relationship worth £28 billion to the British economy and are both members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

But the two leaders have starkly different approaches to the US president, who has said he wants to make Canada the “51st state”.

Mr Carney has previously criticised the UK Government’s invitation for Mr Trump to make a second state visit, telling Sky News earlier this year that Canadians were “not impressed” by the gesture.

Downing Street said Sir Keir would use his visit to Canada to argue that “in a shifting global economy, the UK must retain its proud status as a free and open trading nation – strengthening our existing alliances while reducing barriers to trade with other countries around the world”.

He is also expected to meet Mr Trump when he flies from the Canadian capital to Kananaskis, where world leaders will gather in the mountains for the G7 summit.

Spiralling conflict in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine will be top of the agenda in the talks between the UK, Canada, the US, France, Italy, Japan, Germany.

Number 10 said the Prime Minister would use the trip to urge “restraint and de-escalation” after Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Israel overnight.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected to attend.

Published: 15/06/2025 by Radio NewsHub