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00:00Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us on France 24 with this special coverage of Donald
00:06Trump's state visit to the UK. Now, this is the first time ever a US president has been invited
00:12to two state visits to the UK. King Charles III is set to offer a royal welcome any minute to the
00:19US president and the first lady at Windsor Castle. And this despite ongoing protests outside and
00:26around the country. Well, France 24's Benedique Pavio is in front of Windsor Castle now. She
00:31joins us live from there. Benedique, welcome. Talk us a bit more through what's happening today and
00:37tomorrow. Well, this is the first full day, in fact, of this two-day state visit. And indeed,
00:46you are right to underline the unprecedented character of this. This is the second state visit,
00:51as I said, unprecedented for a foreign leader to do that. And we know that President Trump is a huge
00:59fan of the British monarchy. He absolutely, I think the word is not too strong. So I'll use it,
01:04adored Queen Elizabeth II. And indeed, he'll be paying homage as will millennia later on this
01:12afternoon in St. George's Chapel to the late Queen. And so we have a full day of ceremonial
01:18today here. We know that the Brits do that extremely well. And we're going to have an
01:23unprecedented, yes, again, that word, God of honour. There's never been 1,300 soldiers plus a flypast
01:31of the Red Arrows and British and American fighter jets. But the important nature to underline about
01:39this first full day is it will be entirely behind those walls of Windsor Castle for security reasons.
01:46And that was before the murder of Charlie Kirk, the right wing activist. So yes, there are some
01:54protests that are planned, indeed, happened yesterday and will happen again today in the British
01:59Parliament in the British capital. And indeed, there were some from the American side, and I think the
02:06British side very... Oh, we have a few ladies raising their voices here. But actually, very few people on
02:13the streets, it has to be said here, Jeannie. There are almost more media and more police at the moment
02:18than there are actual people coming out. But American flags, as you can see behind me,
02:24and the Union Jack. Tomorrow will be down to business. It will be a bilateral meeting
02:28at Chequers, the country residence of the British Prime Minister. There will also be a meeting with the
02:33Minister of Finances. And then there will be, we are told, a press conference where we'll be able to ask
02:38some questions.
02:39Benedict, as you're speaking, we're seeing the images of the king, the royal couple, and Queen
02:44Camilla coming into Windsor Castle now. What kind of relationship does King Charles III have with
02:50Donald Trump?
02:53Well, King Charles has an excellent relationship with the American president. Of course, they've known each
02:59other since he was Prince of Wales. So before he acceded to the throne to his late mother,
03:05Queen Elizabeth II. We know that President Trump, as I was saying, loves the British royals. And
03:12indeed, on the plane on Air Force One coming over here, he was talking about that there will be
03:17beautiful pictures. So I can confirm that there will be beautiful pictures. And we know that the
03:23White House is very partial to that, as is the US president. And he was calling King Charles last night
03:31as he landed here in the UK, a good friend. And so I think it'll be very interesting to see how that is
03:39reflected throughout the day, and particularly when there is later on today, that big royal banquet,
03:45and both the king and President Trump will be making speeches. I understand the king's has been
03:51redrafted several times. It will be seven minutes long, or thereabouts. But what we don't know,
03:57and what the British officials don't know at all, is what President Trump will say. So will it be
04:03off-the-cuff remarks? And if so, what will the nature of that be? But it will be fascinating to
04:10see the two men. And we know that President Trump loves having a photo album of these photos. It means
04:17a lot to him. Of course, let's remember he had a Scottish mother, and he has some golf courses in
04:21Scotland. So he is very partial, also, to the relationship, for all kinds of reasons, with the
04:27United Kingdom. But not everybody is a fan. There is controversy, for example, that could be looming over
04:34the fact that the United Kingdom is going to be recognising the state of Palestine soon, along with
04:39France and other countries. Also, that the British Prime Minister is expected to raise issues of the
04:45humanitarian crisis, for example, in Gaza. But today, as I said, is really not about politics. Of course, the
04:51head of state, King Charles doesn't officially do politics. He must remain neutral. But we will see God of
04:59honour, as I said, fly past. Also, there will be that special moment where the First Lady and Donald Trump
05:05will go to the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II and say some prayers there in recognition of her role and her life. We know
05:16that President Trump liked Queen Elizabeth very, very much.
05:21Benedict, thank you. We're going to check back in with you throughout the day as Donald Trump does land
05:26there. We see the helicopters, or we saw helicopters as you were speaking, which should be making their way
05:31to Windsor Castle at the moment. We'll be checking back in with you a bit later, once Donald Trump touches
05:35down there, not far from Windsor Castle, for this unprecedented second state visit. And we're going to talk more
05:42about this with Quentin Peel. Quentin is a former foreign editor for the Financial Times. He joins me
05:47now live from London. Quentin, thanks so much for taking the time to speak to us. Just let's start
05:51with some context. US presidents typically receive only one state visit per British monarch. Why is Donald
05:58Trump getting two?
06:00Well, I think because they were very keen to use this sort of soft diplomacy to try and get closer to
06:09Donald Trump. The excuse is that he is the only president in recent times who has had two not
06:16consecutive presidencies in America. So that's the reason that they say, oh, well, he gets two. But
06:25the truth is, this has seen all along as one way of getting close to a president with whom the British,
06:32it must be said honestly, feel very uncomfortable.
06:36Well, tell us a bit more about that. What kind of feeling is there in the British public to Donald
06:41Trump? I know you can't generalize everyone, but is there a certain feeling more for or against the
06:46US president?
06:48Oh, I think there's no doubt. I think the last opinion poll I saw said that more than 60% of the
06:55British disapprove of Donald Trump, and only about 25% approve. That said, the actual opposition to his
07:05being invited has actually declined a bit. And I think that there's a sort of basic realism to the
07:12Brits that they feel, look, we've got to live with this guy, even if we don't like him. And that's
07:18certainly reflected, I think, by King Charles, and indeed by Keir Starmer, the prime minister. But neither of
07:26those gentlemen are anything like Donald Trump in terms of character. So I think that they will find this all a bit
07:35uncomfortable, even though they're going to put a very brave face on it.
07:39And we did see King Charles already going into Windsor Castle there behind you as you're speaking. We can see what we assume to be
07:45Donald Trump's helicopter touching down, or one of his helicopters about to touch down for the beginning
07:49of this state visit. So King Charles III will be beginning the state visit, welcoming Donald Trump
07:55with this very lavish celebration. He'll also be meeting with the British prime minister,
07:59Keir Starmer. How different are the roles of those two men in shaping the outcomes of this visit?
08:06Oh, very different, in that the king will not be political. I mean, let's be clear,
08:13King Charles is passionate about certain things in world politics and the state of the world,
08:20one of which is action against climate change. On that, he's in a very different position to the
08:26US president. So on that point of view, will he actually say anything at the banquet tonight
08:33to underline the fact that he still believes we need to take more action on climate change?
08:38Keir Starmer, on the other hand, is desperately keen to get the Americans on side on Ukraine,
08:45where he's worried that Donald Trump is much too inclined to be nice to Putin and to believe that
08:54the Russian president means what he says when he says, oh, he'd really like to have a ceasefire and
09:01make peace in Ukraine. So the Brits are very sceptical about that. And they're determined to
09:07keep Trump on side. So that's a much more difficult relationship. And the other part of that difficult
09:14relationship for the government and the prime minister is, of course, Donald Trump's determination
09:19to raise tariffs on imports to the US. And on that, the Brits have not been as successful as they
09:27wanted. They were hoping that from this visit, they would get an agreement to reduce tariffs on
09:33British steel exports to zero. They have failed. The US and the UK have long had what's always been
09:40described as a special relationship. Do you think that special relationship still exists
09:44in the day of Donald Trump? I think it was always exaggerated. Let's be clear. The person who invented
09:52that phrase, I believe, was Winston Churchill. He was desperate in the Second World War to actually
09:58get the US on side and to come into the war. So he was really keen to underline this special
10:05relationship. And indeed, it's been part of the British belief ever since that we are close to the
10:12Americans. Actually, that's not entirely true. There's always been a significant degree of mistrust
10:19between the two countries, not least because the Americans were always very mistrustful of the
10:25British Empire. And they put a lot of pressure on the Brits after the Second World War to give
10:31independence to their colonies. And the British were not terribly pleased with that sort of pressure.
10:37Then you get to Suez in 1956, when you had the Americans basically turned their back on Britain
10:45and France when they went into Suez to try and control the canal there. And again, that was seen
10:52as a great betrayal. So actually, this special relationship has never been quite what it's
10:57talked up to be. But there's one interesting recent development on that. There was an opinion
11:02poll just now, I think a week ago, suggesting that the British people are much more sceptical about the
11:09special relationship than British politicians. So only about 30% of British people think there is
11:15a special relationship. But something like 70% of politicians want to believe that. This visit is
11:23all about what people want to believe, rather than perhaps the real reality. Speaking about what people
11:29want to believe, what's the British Prime Minister himself hoping to get out of this state visit,
11:33particularly domestically. Well, he's not in a very good position at the moment. He's had two
11:41mega scandals in the last couple of weeks. One, his deputy, Angela Rayner, was forced to resign because
11:50of a scandal about not having paid the full taxes on buying a flat for herself in Brighton. And then
11:58the biggest scandal and the most sensitive is that Kirstahmer has actually been forced to sack his
12:07ambassador to the US, Lord Peter Mandelson, all because of the scandal of how close Peter Mandelson was
12:16to Jeffrey Epstein, the serial sexual predator who died, it's believed by suicide, when he'd been jailed for
12:26his activities. And Peter Mandelson has been shown to be much closer to Jeffrey Epstein, perhaps, than
12:34people realised and defending him. Now, the complication of that is that Donald Trump himself was a great
12:42friend of Jeffrey Epstein, although he denies that this continued for anything like as long. So the fact
12:49that you've got this scandal in the background there for Kirstahmer, which is a scandal that actually
12:55involves the US president potentially, makes it really quite difficult. And as a result,
13:04Kirstahmer is not looking in a strong position domestically at all. His popularity ratings are
13:11significantly lower than those of the US president at home. And neither of them is particularly
13:17in the positive ratings at the moment. So Kirstahmer would hope that the welcome here he's giving to
13:28Donald Trump will show that he is a global statesman, and that this will steady his popularity
13:34ratings. I'm not sure that that's going to be a huge success, precisely because the Brits don't like
13:42Donald Trump. So it may slightly work against him. Indeed. And it's interesting you mention
13:49Jeffrey Epstein, because that seems to be something that the protesters are certainly trying to pinpoint
13:54with those incredible images of Trump alongside Jeffrey Epstein projected on the side of Windsor
14:00Castle, where Trump's about to be welcomed last night. Yes, absolutely. Four people have apparently been
14:06arrested for their part in putting these up. I've seen more pictures of a van that's been going
14:13around Windsor with a big screen on the side, again, showing pictures of Donald Trump with Jeffrey
14:20Epstein. So that relationship is certainly going to be something that the demonstrators will like to
14:27emphasize. I think the nervousness of the British government and of Kirstahmer is what will happen
14:33when the two of them are supposed to be having a press conference tomorrow, when Donald Trump goes
14:39to stay with the prime minister at his residence at Chequers. And the British press and the international
14:46press undoubtedly may try to pursue Donald Trump precisely on that relationship.
14:54Quentin, earlier you were talking about some of the big issues that will be on the table for the talks
14:57with the British prime minister, Ukraine, obviously tariffs. What other key issues might be talked about
15:02between the two men? Well, I think undoubtedly, yes, Ukraine and Gaza. Gaza is a huge issue,
15:10particularly within the Labour Party, which is the party of Kirstahmer. There is enormous unhappiness,
15:18distress, anger even at the Israeli onslaught at the moment on Gaza City. And the fact that Donald Trump
15:27has done very little that one can see to make any effort to restrain the Israelis, he did express his
15:34displeasure at their attack on Hamas leaders in Qatar, but nothing about this attack on Gaza. And that is a
15:44matter of huge distress within Britain, not just in the Labour Party, but across the ranks. And I think
15:51that's what's going to bring people onto the streets of London and other cities today in protesting about
15:57the Trump visit. They actually expect the US president to do much more. He keeps saying that
16:05he's a man who wants to promote peace, but actually his track record so far in promoting peace is
16:11miserable.
16:11Indeed. Quentin, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us there. That's Quentin Peel, the former
16:17foreign editor at the Financial Times, who is speaking to me live from London. And there you can see on your
16:22screens Marine One, which is the helicopter that is carrying the US president Donald Trump about to be greeted
16:30there, as you can see coming down those helicopter steps to be greeted, I believe, if I can see from behind Prince
16:37William and Princess Catherine, I believe, saying hello to them as he's going to be moving on then
16:42to speak to King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Our Benedict Pavio is at Windsor Castle, not far
16:49from where that helicopter touched down. Benedicta, tell us a bit more about everything that's going
16:53to be happening today.
16:57Yes, so this ceremonial welcome that is actually about to begin. And this first full day of this
17:05second unprecedented state visit of the American president. So the president and the first lady are
17:13about to step out of Marine One into the grounds of Windsor Castle. And it's important to remind that
17:18there will be absolutely no facing events. This will all be held for security reasons within
17:24the first greet. That is the hierarchy here for the president.
17:41King Charles III and his wife, Camilla, and then all the God of Honor, the military parade will all kick off. We know that Donald Trump is a huge lover.
17:53He's a huge lover of foreign French, but also British ceremonial. He absolutely adores, he says it himself repeatedly, the British royal family. He was a huge admirer of Queen Elizabeth II. And he's a very big admirer. And indeed, he called King Charles last night his good friend. And he said also that there would be some beautiful pictures.
18:17pictures. So the beautiful pictures are about to, we are viewing them now. And of course, let's remember that Prince William is the heir to the throne, and his wife, so they are, will become king and queen. So that is the future accompanying the current leader of the United States and his wife, Melania, as they meet King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
18:40So now we are getting into that. And then we will have a carriage procession through the Windsor estate towards the castle proper.
18:58Benedict, your sound, Benedict, I'm just going to jump in. Benedict Pavia, I'm just going to jump in. Your sound is cutting out a little bit. I'm just going to go back to Quentin Peel, with whom I was speaking earlier, Quentin, the former foreign editor for the Financial Times.
19:12Quentin, what more do we know about what kind of relationship Donald Trump has with King Charles' son, Prince William?
19:18Well, certainly the official line is it's been very good. They've met before. They've had quite long conversations. And so I think both sides are going to make a very good effort to show that it is a good relationship.
19:36But as I said earlier, it's not a very comfortable relationship. I mean, they are terribly different characters. The Prince William, like his father, has been brought up to be absolutely diplomatic, polite and correct all the time, never to offend, never to give offence.
19:56Donald Trump, as we know, is somebody who revels in giving offence and being rather rude to people. So it is actually an extraordinary combination of different characters.
20:08And, Quentin, as you're speaking on our screens, we can see an incredible carriage that's just pulled up. I'm assuming a carriage that's going to be carrying the U.S. President Donald Trump.
20:17Talk us through some of the other elaborate pageantry we're going to be seeing on this day that's really more about the royals and Donald Trump.
20:25There's going to be an incredible banquet as well today.
20:28Yes, they have really laid it on to make the ceremony almost really as never before.
20:35I think there are more soldiers involved than ever before.
20:38And all that, look at all that amazing carriages, the horses.
20:44One thing they had to be rather careful about was to make sure that Donald Trump's helicopter didn't land too close to where all the horses were for fear of frightening them.
20:55And so they had to be very careful to coordinate this.
20:58But he's got the full works here, even though, as Benedict was saying earlier, this is not going to be seen by ordinary members of the public.
21:10The closest Donald Trump is going to get to any ordinary British people is probably the waiters at the banquet tonight.
21:17And they're the only ordinary people he's going to be exposed to.
21:22That is said to be because of fear about security.
21:25But I think it's also fear about people saying things that he wouldn't like to hear.
21:30Indeed. Is there any chance at this kind of incredible banquet that there might be people who can get in?
21:35I mean, what kind of security is put in place to make sure that this trip runs as smoothly as possible?
21:39Oh, it's I don't think it's huge security.
21:45And Windsor Castle, of course, is pretty used to having a total security.
21:50So I would be amazed if they allowed anything through.
21:53I think that both the numbers of U.S. security people who've flown in in advance of this visit are complemented by the number of British security people.
22:04At least if sheer numbers of security counts, then nobody will get through, not even a mouse.
22:12All right. Thanks for that.
22:13Again, Quentin Peel speaking to me there from London.
22:16Thank you so much.
22:17And there you can see the carriage moving away.
22:19The time for us to turn to our business update with a look at the economic aspects of what Donald Trump's visit to the U.K. might bring.
22:26I'm joined on the set by France 24's Charles Pellegrin.
22:28Charles.
22:29Hi, Jeannie.
22:29Yeah, one of the major reasons for the fact that Trump is getting this second state visit to the U.K., the first U.S. president in history to get such an honor,
22:36is because the U.S. is the U.K.'s single largest economic partner, accounting for about 18 percent of total British trade.
22:43And the Starmer government is betting on that relationship to get its own economy going again.
22:48A trade agreement was found back in May, lowering U.S. tariffs to 10 percent on most goods.
22:54But certain sectors are still awaiting a final agreement, notably pharmaceuticals, steel, aluminium.
23:01And Donald Trump himself said before he left Washington that his counterpart in London wanted to pursue those talks during the visit.
23:07But on the topic of steel specifically, the reporting this Wednesday suggests that the Starmer government is entirely – is shelving those talks to eliminate steel tariffs entirely,
23:18instead accepting commitments from the U.S. that those duties will stay at 25 percent, considerably lower than other countries,
23:25something that's made local steel producers like Tata Steel unhappy.
23:31It seems like the emphasis does seem to be on getting more commitments from U.S. tech firms during this visit.
23:36Absolutely.
23:36The country might be all about the pageantry and the old carts and horses, but instead joining Trump on his visit are also Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA,
23:47the company that designs the chips using artificial intelligence, and Sam Altman, the boss of OpenAI, the company behind AI chatbot, chat GPT.
23:55And the U.K.'s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology announced Tuesday that U.S. tech giants will be dedicating more than 31 billion pounds,
24:02or over $42 billion, to AI systems, quantum computing initiatives, and other tech projects in the country.
24:09Among the litany of pledges announced in the run-up to the visit, OpenAI launching its data centre building initiative, Stargate in the U.K.,
24:16Microsoft also saying it'll spend $30 billion in the U.K. over the next four years.
24:21This is a record for the company and will be used to shore up the country's AI infrastructure and build a supercomputer.
24:28And NVIDIA is promising its technology will be part of an 11 billion pound investment in data centres there as well.
24:34The idea here for the Starmer government is to boost a country's ability to power AI innovation by building up the infrastructure around it,
24:42and notably data centres.
24:43And ultimately, I imagine, to generate more economic growth.
24:46Exactly.
24:47And all the advantages that come with that, notably job creation, especially high-skills jobs.
24:52Speaking to the BBC, actually, Microsoft boss Satya Nadella estimated that AI could boost the U.K. economy by 10% over the next five years.
25:02The AI craze has been really in large part responsible for the continued strength of the U.S. stock markets
25:07and for sustaining economic activity in the U.S.
25:11So the hope is that it'll do the same across the pond, especially because economic activity there has been stagnant,
25:18even flatlining in the latest official figures, which came in July and only increasing by 0.2% in the three months to July.
25:25So that downbeat statistic is putting a lot of pressure on the Labour government, which promised to kickstart the country's economy.
25:31But this bet on working with the U.S. tech sector is raising questions at home about over-reliance on foreign technology
25:39and how the local power grid will adapt to such huge energy demands.
25:45AI is extremely needy in energy needs and who exactly will foot that power bill.
25:51And it seems the U.K. is an attractive destination for U.S. investments,
25:55but are there any investments going the other way from the U.K. into the U.S.?
25:59Yeah, there is some news on that there.
26:00British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline GSK said this Wednesday it would invest $30 billion
26:06in U.S. research and development and supply chain infrastructure over five years,
26:12and this will include funds to build a new factory in Pennsylvania with construction slated to start in 2026.
26:18The U.S. represented more than half of the company's revenue last year.
26:23GSK is one of many pharma groups that have opted to scale up their U.S. businesses recently,
26:27as Donald Trump's been threatening to impose tariffs on the industry.
26:30And a bid to increase domestic manufacturing.
26:33And all this pageantry you're seeing right now,
26:36all this show for Donald Trump is a way to try and get him to not act on that threat as well.
26:41Indeed, Charles, thanks so much for that.
26:43Charles Pellegrin, our business editor there,
26:46telling us about the economic impact of this unprecedented state visit of U.S. President Donald Trump to the U.K.
26:52You're watching France 24.
26:53Do stay with us.
26:54We're going to take a quick break.
26:55We'll be back on the other side with more from London.
26:57Don't go away.
26:58We'll be back on the other side with more from London.
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