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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is meeting with President Trump this morning. His visit to Washington comes three days after French President Emmanuel Macron sat down with Trump in an effort to convince him that Ukraine cannot be abandoned, and that Europeans must play a role in negotiations to end the war with Russia. European leaders are trying to adapt to the stark reversal in U.S. foreign policy. And just yesterday, out of the blue, Trump announced he wanted 25% tariffs on EU products. We're going to go now to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris, who has been following all this. Good morning, Eleanor.

ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.

MARTIN: So that tariffs announcement, that really wasn't expected, was it?

BEARDSLEY: No, it wasn't. The timing really surprised Europeans. You know, it came on the heels of what was seen as a friendly and positive meeting between Macron and Trump. If you saw some of the video footage, there was a lot of laughing and handshake and touching. Macron even told Fox ¹ÏÉñapp he thought he'd convinced him not to level tariffs. But Trump doubled down, saying the European Union was formed to, quote, "screw the United States."

MARTIN: So Britain is no longer in the EU. What will Starmer talk to Trump about?

BEARDSLEY: Well, analysts say the stakes are high for Starmer, and he's going to be walking a tightrope. First, he's going to reinforce what Macron said about Ukraine. You know, Britain and France have proposed to be the backbone of a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine once there's a ceasefire. But Starmer, who has also insisted that the U.S. needs to provide a security backstop for such a force - and that there must be guarantees so that Russia will not start up the war again. As a confidence-building gesture before his arrival, Trump - Starmer announced that the U.K. would increase military spending, 2.5% of GDP within two years. Trump has wanted the Europeans to pay more. I spoke with Gesine Weber, who handles European security at the U.S. German Marshall Fund in Paris. And she says the Europeans are making gestures, but it's not sure they'll be rewarded.

GESINE WEBER: Basically, we observe a burden shifting to Europeans but not a responsibility shifting. It is not sure to what extent they will be rewarded for that through a seat at the negotiation table.

BEARDSLEY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will also visit the White House tomorrow, and he's expected to sign a preliminary deal with President Trump to share revenue from the country's mineral rights. And in exchange, Zelenskyy wants security guarantees from the U.S.

MARTIN: You know, you mentioned earlier that Macron and Trump seemed to have a certain chemistry. You know, they've met before and so forth, you know, as you mentioned, a lot of backslapping and so forth. So how is Trump's meeting expected to go with Starmer?

BEARDSLEY: Well, it's a totally different relationship, and there's been friction. Elon Musk has spoken badly of Starmer. And the British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, who's going to be traveling with Starmer, once called Trump a woman-hating, neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath. But they're trying to put that in the past. Starmer has not criticized the administration. He needs to have a constructive relationship with Trump. And Trump has said he looks forward to working with him. In Starmer's favors is the fact that he was elected in July in a landslide, and Trump respects that. And it also means he'll be there throughout Trump's term, and he knows that as well.

MARTIN: And Britain, as I think many people know, has historically been one of the U.S.'s closest allies. I guess I take it that Starmer wants to preserve that. Is there anything he can do?

BEARDSLEY: Well, he's going to try to shore up that special British-American relationship. I spoke with Olivia O'Sullivan, a security analyst with British think tank Chatham House. And she says this relationship has to endure despite the two leaders' different ideologies.

OLIVIA O'SULLIVAN: The U.K. and U.S. share a lot of military intelligence. They often conduct military missions together. Their national security and military structures are really closely enmeshed.

BEARDSLEY: She says it's a critical relationship for the U.K., though it's not clear how important it is to Trump.

MARTIN: That is NPR international correspondent Eleanor Beardsley. Eleanor, thank you.

BEARDSLEY: You're welcome, Michel. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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