Both President Trump and King Charles III spoke about the U.S. and U.K.’s alliance in glowing terms at the start of Tuesday’s state dinner, though points of disagreement between the two countries remain.
The king called the alliance “indispensable,” highlighting the U.S.’s role in helping Europe rebuild after World War II and later setting up NATO — bringing up a delicate subject for Mr. Trump, who has long felt that NATO member countries do not spend enough money on their own defense and are overly reliant on the alliance.
He also said the countries should “reaffirm…the basis on which our partnership has been built,” in light of new challenges like shared foreign adversaries and the risks of new technologies.
Charles acknowledged the two countries have “had our moments of difficulty.” He brought up a visit his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, made to the U.S. in 1957, which he said was intended partially to “help put the special back into our relationship after a crisis in the Middle East,” referencing the Suez Crisis.
“Nearly 70 years on, it is hard to imagine anything like that happening today,” the king joked.
One moment of difficulty between the two countries was prompted by the U.S.’s war with Iran, which the U.K. and many other NATO members have sought to avoid getting directly involved in. Mr. Trump has sharply criticized British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not offering the U.S. more assistance.
Mr. Trump did not bring up that disagreement on Tuesday, and spoke positively during his toast about the U.S.-U.K. relationship and the two countries’ history of shared military operations. But the president referenced the Iran war at one point, saying it was going “very well.”
“Charles agrees with me even more than I do, we’re never going to let that opponent have a nuclear weapon,” he said, referring to Iran. “They know that, and they’ve known that right now very powerfully.”
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