Ahead of his talks at the White House on Thursday, Sir Keir said Mr Trump can be trusted and understands that Russian President Mr Putin started the war in Ukraine.
Sir Keir wants to act as a bridge between the US and European continental allies, and said he had been having “really intense discussions with our European partners, with Nato, with Ukraine, and obviously with US teams as well”.
The Prime Minister will push a reluctant Mr Trump to provide a US “backstop”, possibly including fighter jets providing air cover, to prevent Vladimir Putin launching a fresh assault on Ukraine after any peace deal.
Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders will meet for talks hosted by Sir Keir on Sunday following separate White House visits by both the Prime Minister and Ukrainian president.
Asked if he was confident the UK will be exempted from tariffs, Sir Keir said “I’m not going to get ahead of our discussions”, but he stressed that British trade with the US was “pretty balanced”.
