UK PM Starmer says Trump has a point on European defense commitment

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Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks as he visits a military base to meet planners mapping out next steps in the Coalition of the Willing in Greater London, Britain, March 20, 2025. (REUTERS)
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  • Starmer is trying to assemble a multinational military force that he calls a coalition of the willing to keep Ukraine’s skies, ports and borders secure after any peace settlement

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said US President Donald Trump has a point that European countries must bear a greater burden for their collective self-defense, the New York Times said on Sunday.
“We need to think about defense and security in a more immediate way,” he told the newspaper in an interview.
Starmer is trying to assemble a multinational military force that he calls a coalition of the willing to keep Ukraine’s skies, ports and borders secure after any peace settlement, the report said.
On Trump, Starmer said, “On a person-to-person basis, I think we have a good relationship.” But, he said, the US leader’s actions, from imposing a 25 percent tariff on British steel to berating President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, had generated “quite a degree of disorientation.”