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Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Starmer Hold News Conference; Trump Says, Signed Historic Technology Deal With Britain; U.K. Prime Minister Says, Situation in Gaza is Intolerable. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired September 18, 2025 - 10:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in The Situation Room. Pamela Brown is off today.

Any moment now, President Trump and the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will hold a joint news conference during President Trump's state visit to the United Kingdom. It will be at the prime minister's country estate called Chequers. We're going to bring that to you live as soon as it begins.

But I want to, in the meantime, go to CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson. He is just outside Chequers for us. So, what are we expecting, Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Wolf will probably get a recap from both of them about the tech deal, the big tech deal that they signed. We had a sort of a prelude to that. They both came out in the context of it, of a meeting where tech leaders and spoke about the massive hundreds of billions of dollars of tech deals that are being done.

Keir Starmer, President Trump both appeared to be very relaxed, very warm in each other's company, both sort of praising the relationship. President Trump talking about the deals that American farmers would be able to sell products into the U.K. Important for him that U.S. manufacturers, he said, would be able to get access to the quality aerospace manufacturing supply chains. He said that was something that was important. He stressed the sort of number of jobs it would help create in the U.K. So, we've had that. We've heard that already.

But I think the areas where we might get more detail, and certainly the questions might come up, and there was a hint of this from King Charles last night at that state banquet. He talked about allies standing up in the face of tyranny. He didn't mention Russia, but he talked about supporting Ukraine. He looked at President Trump at that moment. And then you heard Keir Starmer at that tech meeting as well an hour or so ago talking about standing together, security being strong. And it appeared to be, again, a reference in the company of President Trump to talk about the importance of supporting Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. So, I think there will be questions on that because there's a sense here, certainly among the British media, that this important issue in Europe, that the United States does more to stand behind Ukraine and stand up to Vladimir Putin and his aggression, that they will be looking to the prime minister to have perhaps won the president over a little on that issue. I think that's something that they will both get questions on here, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Nic, we're going to get back to you. Stand by. We're standing by any minute now for this news conference to begin.

I want to bring in our National Security Analyst Jim Sciutto. He's here with me in the situation room. I'm curious, Jim, what are you going to be looking for?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Two big issues. One, certainly, security, security of Europe and the other trade. On security, to Nic's point, it is about Ukraine and Russia. And I would argue that Europe's expectations from the Trump administration, as I speak to European diplomats, have fallen from the previous administration.

At this point now, they're not looking for the same support that the Biden administration offered to Ukraine. They just don't want the U.S. to abandon Ukraine entirely. The new reality has set in that, that Ukraine security, and, really, to some degree, Europe security, is now a European lead with perhaps some U.S. backing and help but certainly not the leadership that it had shown previously through, we should note, Democratic and Republican administrations or even at the outside, that the U.S. doesn't stand in the way, right, that the U.S. doesn't pressure Ukraine, for instance, to sign a deal with Russia that Ukraine doesn't want to do, or that Europe views as a threat to Europe's security. The expectations are lower.

So, a win for the U.K. prime minister would be a President Trump that doesn't walk away, right, walk away from Ukraine, walk away from the war, or even at the outside, walk away from the NATO alliance.

On trade, I would say it's interesting that Starmer has already won something for his country, right, lower tariffs than Trump has imposed on other U.S. allies in Europe at 10 percent. And one can argue that shows the power of a relationship with Trump, that he seems to have a pretty good relationship with Starmer.

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You nurture that relationship. You could save your country money, right? It very much goes through Trump and his impression of you and your country and his own interests and America's interests on this. And I would imagine that Starmer wants to keep that relationship going forward and not get on Trump's wrong side.

BLITZER: Yes. I assume Ukraine, Russia, Poland, all of that will be an important issue, national security issue.

I think Israel, Gaza and the Palestinian issue will come up as well. And there are differences between these two close allies on this very sensitive issue.

SCIUTTO: 100 percent in that European leaders increasingly are willing to call out Israeli military operations in Gaza as war crimes, right? I mean, you hear that from many European capitals. And, by the way, not just Europe, I spoke to Senator Chris Van Hollen yesterday, who used the term ethnic cleansing to describe Israeli activities inside Gaza. So, you have -- and this while President Trump continues to back the Israeli prime minister.

That's a division. It's becoming more open. It's going to be on display next week at the U.N. General Assembly as well. And they will not be able to paper over it here. I can imagine the U.K. prime minister saying that he supports Israel protecting its own security but he also sees what's happening in Gaza right now is far beyond a military necessity, which we should note you hear from inside Israel as well.

BLITZER: And like some other European allies of the United States right now the U.K. is moving closer and closer to formally, publicly endorsing the idea of a Palestinian state.

SCIUTTO: And that's one in a series, right? And we've seen the Israeli response to that. They are now connecting those calls for a Palestinian state to further annexation of the West Bank. You're certainly not going to hear a U.S. president call for or recognize a Palestinian state at this point, but that's another widening gap, as, you know, this idea, again, that had been a bipartisan, one of a two- state solution for Israel and Palestine sometime down the line, largely disappears into the ether, right? Even when you go to Israel today, right, and even among some of the Israeli left, and even among some Palestinians, they feel like that's a dream that has long passed.

BLITZER: Hold on for a moment. Jim, I want to go back to Nic Robertson. He's just outside Chequers there waiting for this news conference to begin.

Nic, is the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, likely to raise the issue of the new U.S. tariffs that are being imposed, including on very close allies?

ROBERTSON: Yes, he is. And where he is going to look for reductions and it's not clear that he is going to get it, but it will be a sign of success for him, and he'll be very happy if he does. He is looking to get reductions on aluminum and steel tariffs and also on a couple of key Scottish industries on the salmon industry, he wants to see tariffs come down there, and on whiskey specifically.

And I think it's worth just sort of digressing a little bit here, Wolf, that the Scottish first minister was president at that state banquet last night. He was in the White House, by the way, just a couple of weeks ago and had an extended meeting with President Trump, whiskey, salmon important for him.

But on the point of the Scottish first minister being at the state dinner last night, the first ministers of Northern Ireland and Wales were invited and they didn't come, but the Scottish first minister came because those tariffs on whiskey and salmon are important to him, and that's something Starmer's going to want to deliver on, along with bringing down the tariffs on aluminum and steel because that really affects the car manufacturers in the U.K. who are actually having a really hard time. One of the plants in the U.K., the Jaguar plant has had to sort of put its workers on standby because of technical high tech issues that they're having with their supply chains at the moment.

So, this is where the prime minister is feeling domestic heat in those sectors, and this is where it's going to be looking to try to, again, persuade something a little better out of President Trump than he's got already, and certainly his European partners have had.

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Nic, this news conference, this joint news conference between the British prime minister and the visiting U.S. president was supposed to start almost an hour or so ago. It's been delayed and delayed and delayed. Is there a reason they're giving? What's going on?

ROBERTSON: We're not getting really any indications on that. The tech briefing that we had earlier, that was pretty much on time, maybe running a little bit late, and then we could see things unraveling in terms of the timeline here, because there was a plane circling overhead here, Wolf. It was the skydivers, the British Parachute Regiment coming down. They were going to drop out of the plane, fly down one with big Union Jack, one with the big stars and stripes. And this plane was circling and circling and circling. And that was the clue that these parachuters, if you will, were stuck in the air waiting for the leaders to finish the next stage of whatever it was they were doing.

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That did happen. They did come down. That was successful. There was a round of applause coming from where President Trump and Keir Starmer, Melania, the first lady --

BLITZER: All right. Hold on, Nic. Hold on. The prime minister, Keir Saormer, and President Trump are now standing in this news conference, I want to listen in.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: It's a pleasure to welcome you to Checkers. This historic second state visit is a moment to celebrate the unique bond between our two countries. But today we've gone far beyond that. We've renewed the special relationship for a new era, the United Kingdom and the United States stand together today as first partners on defense, first partners in trade with the groundbreaking deal we struck in May, and now with the new agreement that we've just signed this afternoon. We're confirming our status as the first partners in science and technology, ready to define this century together, just as we did the last.

This tech partnership has the power to change lives. It's our chance to ensure that technologies like A.I., quantum, and others, amplify human potential, solve problems, cure diseases, make us richer and freer, strengthen the cause of democracy, not tyranny. This is the territory of which the future will be won.

So this partnership today is a signal of our determination to win this race together and to ensure it brings real benefits in jobs, in growth, in lower bills, to put more hard-earned cash in people's pockets at the end of each month. That's what we are determined to deliver. And we're bringing businesses with us. We've just come from a fantastic meeting with business leaders where we set out this vision.

They have responded with new deals and investment, breaking every record that we have, 250 billion pounds flowing both ways across the Atlantic. That is a record expected to create 15,000 jobs here in the United Kingdom, high-skilled jobs in cutting edge sectors where people can build careers for the long-term, changing lives in communities up and down our country.

And, look, while we shape this bond for a new era, the fundamentals have not changed. Security remains the cornerstone of this special relationship. We have the deepest, most advanced defense relationship in the world. Our warriors train together and they fight together. Our industries build together, everything from fast jets to the new orcas class submarines.

So, now, as we drive up defense spending, we're going to sweep away the barriers to working together on new defense technologies so we can stay ahead of our adversaries. We're united in defense and security. Yes, absolutely. But we're also united in the pursuit of peace. We are working together to end the humanitarian catastrophe in the Middle East, get the aid in, free the hostages, and ultimately bring Israel and the region back towards a comprehensive plan which can deliver peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians alike.

We're also working together to end the killing in Ukraine. In recent days, Putin has shown his true face, mounting the biggest attack since the evasion began with yet more bloodshed, yet more innocents killed and unprecedented violations of NATO airspace. These are not the actions of someone who wants peace.

So, we've discussed today how we can build our defenses further, support Ukraine and decisively increase the pressure on Putin to get him to agree a peace deal that will last.

And, President Trump, you have led the way here, and we will continue to stand and work together for security and for peace. Mr. President, next year, we'll celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States.

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We've come on a long journey together since 1776.

But it's no exaggeration to say that the partnership our two nations have built has shaped the world from the beaches of Normandy to the founding of NATO, to the creation of technologies that have revolutionized our lives. Time and time again, it is British and American men and women side by side changing the path of history and turning it towards our values, towards freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. In Britain, we take huge pride in that. And let's be clear, this relationship is not just about history. It's about the future. It's about the benefits it delivers now and for decades to come to make our people safer and better off. We've shown today that we're delivering those benefits, improving people's lives, so we will go into that anniversary year more optimistic than ever and more confident than ever about our two great nations and what they can achieve side by side. Thank you.

And it is now my pleasure to give the floor to Mr. President. Thank you.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Prime Minister Starmer, Melania and I are tremendously thankful for the wonderful hospitality that you and Lady Starmer have extended today at Chequers. Quite the place, I must say, quite the place. And we're grateful beyond words for the spectacular honor of the state visit yesterday at Windsor Castle hosted by his Majesty, King Charles III, and her Majesty, Queen Camilla. These are two fantastic people. We will never forget it.

As I said last night, the bond between our countries is like no other anywhere in the world. The United States and the United Kingdom have done more good on this planet than any two nations in human history. That is thanks in large part to the traditions of British liberty, which grew up on these isles, these beautiful, magnificent isles, and were carried by our ancestors to the new world. We are forever joined and we are forever friends and we will always be friends.

This enduring connection is why I was thrilled that the United Kingdom was the very first country with which we made a historic trade deal and a very good trade deal. He's a tough negotiator. I think it was a better deal for you than us, but these are minor details.

STARMER: It's a very good deal for both of us.

TRUMP: He is a great negotiator. It will extend our unparalleled security alliance into the realm of economic security for the first time, and I look forward to finalizing it very soon. We'll have it done very quickly.

We have also just signed a historic technology prosperity deal, one of a kind, to ensure our countries lead the next great technological revolution side by side. In fact, we just left the business leaders, the biggest in the world. Some are in this room right now. And that was quite a meeting we had on business and trade and technology. This trip has galvanized $350 billion in deals across many sectors, and we're committed to ensuring that the U.K. is a secure and reliable supply of the best A.I. hardware and software on Earth. And we supply that and we'll make sure we supply it in quantity to the U.K.

We also are joining forces on quantum computing and nuclear power, a natural partnership for close allies. The United States, as you probably have heard, is doing better than it has ever done in terms of business and investment. The stock market has hit a new high, as you know, and that's for many, many days out of our fairly short eight months. And we seem to be hitting new highs, and I think we're going to do much better even as time goes by. Jobs are at a record, and most importantly, we have more than $17 trillion, and this is during an eight-month period, being invested in the country, which is not only a record.

But if you compare $17 trillion to the last year of the Biden administration, they did $250 billion. They didn't do $1 trillion for the four-year period. We did $17 trillion of investment coming in.

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A lot of it's because of tariffs and a lot of it's for a lot of other reasons, but there's never been anything like it. It's an economic superstar. It's what's become. It was mismanaged and badly handled for a long period of time, but it's not badly handled anymore. So, that's a record. And, remember, that's up until eight months. We have another few months to go and that number's going to get significantly higher, especially if we win a certain case that we're waiting to hear, that will be something like the world has never seen.

I want to congratulate the United Kingdom on making the vital commitment to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense at the NATO summit this year. We've worked together very closely in so many ways. I'm very honored to tell you that we've solved seven wars, seven wars, wars that were unsolvable, wars that couldn't be negotiated or done. We've done it. The U.S. has done seven of them. The one that I thought would be easiest would be because of my relationship with President Putin, but he's let me down. He's really let me down. It was going to be Russia and Ukraine. But we'll see how that turns out. But that turned out to be. I thought it might be among the easiest of the group, but we had settled just about every conflict.

And as you know, we're working very hard on Israel and Gaza. All that's happening over there, complex, but it's going to be -- it's going to get done, all get done right. And likewise, Russia and Ukraine will get done. But it's -- you never know in war. You know, war is a different thing. Things happen that are very opposite of what you thought. You thought you were going to have an easy time or a hard time, and it turns out to be the reverse.

As we saw in the unforgettable parade yesterday at Windsor Castle, what a place it is, the British Armed Forces carry on one of the finest military traditions in the world, one of the greatest marching bands, one of the most magnificent sites I've seen. I know that our service members look forward and we do look forward to working even more closely with yours as you push toward that 5 percent goal. And I think, Mr. Prime Minister, you're just about there. You're going to be there very quickly along with a lot of other great countries.

I want to thank NATO and our wonderful head of NATO, who's really worked very hard, Mark, for the job they've done. As you know, NATO is a 2 percent GDP and they didn't pay it. Now, they're at 5 percent, then they pay it. And we appreciate that. And we're sending a lot of weapons to NATO. NATO's paying for those weapons in full. But we're sending them and we're doing a great job at getting them what they need. And we appreciate the fact that they're taking care of, because the United States is into that war for $350 billion. And it's just really very sad, it just got out of control. They didn't know what they were doing. But over the generations, British and American warriors have shed their blood side by side in defense of liberty and freedom. And that's why it's so imperative that the United States and the United Kingdom stand together for these fundamental rights and values of the English speaking world. And we've always stood together and we will continue to.

Just last week, a great American, Charlie Kirk, was heinously assassinated for speaking his mind. He was a great young man, incredible future. Some people said he might be president someday. I told him, I said, Charlie, I think you have a good shot someday at being president. And he just wanted to take care of youth. He loved youth. He was -- I've never seen anybody relate to youth like Charlie and they related to him, and they're devastated.

But I appreciate the many British citizens who have offered their condolences. And, again, Charlie was a great person. We'll be going out to a service on Sunday. I'll be leaving with some of the people in this room just to celebrate Charlie and all that he's done, so incredible, never seen anything like it.

But I hope that together, our nations can lead a movement to defend the glorious traditions of freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. There could be no greater tribute to the immortal bonds of affection and loyalty that unite the British and the American people for all of time. We have a relationship like no other. It will always be that way. We will always be united. We'll always be together. And I just want to thank you, Mr. Prime Minister, for the great job that you're doing. Thank you very much.

STARMER: Thank you.

STARMER: Thank you very much, Mr. President. We're going to take some questions. I'll call two or three to start with, and then I'll pass over to the president.

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I've got Chris Mason from the BBC first. Chris?

REPORTER: Thank you both. Chris Mason from BBC News.

Mr. President, the U.K. is expected to recognize the Palestinian state in the coming days as the killing in Gaza continues. It often seems that you are the only person that Israel will listen to. What more can you say to them to tell them to stop? And why is the U.K.'s position on a Palestinian state, in your view, wrong? And, Prime Minister, what will the recognition of a Palestinian state actually achieve? Is it not just gesture politics to appease people in your own party? Thank you both.

STARMER: Well, Chris, let me just start with that because we discussed this amongst other things. We had best part of an hour, I think, upstairs earlier today, just one-to-one, going through a number of affairs, world affairs, in private. And we absolutely agree on the need for peace and a roadmap because the situation in Gaza is intolerable. The hostage has been held for a very, very long time and they must be freed. And we need aid to get into Gaza at speed.

And so it's within that context of a plan for peace, which we're working hard on, which not only did we discuss this morning but our two teams have been working together on. The question of recognition needs to be seen. And so it's part of that overall package, which, hopefully, takes us from the appalling situation we're in now to the outcome of a safe and secure Israel, which we do not have, and a viable Palestinian state. Thank you.

TRUMP: Well, simply, I want the hostages released now, right now. Not one, two, we'll give you three more tomorrow. And, you know, like it's been -- but we're the ones that got all the hostages released. We got many, many, they came, many came to the Oval Office and I've heard stories like I've never thought even possible. There was no humanity, no anything.

I said to them, I said was there any warmth shown during this stay? Like they offered you a little extra meal, they gave you a little smile, and they said, don't worry, you'll be okay. And every one of them said, not even a little bit.

Amazing, you know, to think that during this stay, long stay in some cases, we had a man the other day, 451 days he was there, I always ask that question and was there any warmth, Sharon (ph)? Just a little word of, you know, encouragement, and the answer is every time, absolutely not.

I'm shocked to hear it, because in the worst cases there's always somebody that comes through. We have to remember October 7th, one of the worst, most violent days in the history of the world. Not just there, the history of the world. And I got to see the tapes and I wish I didn't see them actually, but I got to see them.

And I want an end. I want the hostages released and I think it's going to be okay. But it has been a brutal period of time. But this has been going on for a long time. This is not something that's over the last year, two years, but this has been for decades and decades. But we want it to end. We have to have the hostages back immediately.

That's what the people of Israel want. They want them back. And we want the fighting to stop and it's going to stop. But a lot of bad things, you know, Hamas said that they're going to put the hostages up as bait. They're going to put the hostages in front of any attack, and that's pretty brutal. We haven't heard that one in a long time. So, we have to remember that.

So, I have a disagreement with the prime minister on that score, one of our few disagreements, actually.

STARMER: Can I take Jack from The Sun, Jack?

REPORTER: Thank you both. Jack Elsom, from The Sun.

Mr. President. In the nine months you've been in office, you've been incredibly successful in all but eliminating crossings in your southern border. Meanwhile, illegal migration is at record levels in Britain. The prime minister is trying to tackle that. What advice would you give to the man standing next to you on trying to stop illegal migration in Britain? And, Prime Minister, of I can just ask, the president is all about drill, baby, drill, in terms of trying to secure American energy and cut bills for Americans. Meanwhile, you are turning Britain's back on oil and gas in favor of renewable energies, such as wind turbines. Why do you think that you are right and he's wrong?

TRUMP: So, we had millions of people flowing in totally unchecked, totally unvetted from the Biden administration, 25 million. In my opinion, that would be about 25 million. They came from prisons. They came from mental institutions. They were gang members. They were drug dealers. They came from the Congo. They came from all parts of South America. They came from everywhere. Think of it, prisoners from the Congo being released into the United States, prisons opened up in Venezuela and many other countries pouring into the United States.

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