Vice President JD Vance predicted that President Trump would make a trade deal with Britain, a country “he really loves,” a comforting sign for a British government that was stung to be placed under a 10 percent tariff by Mr. Trump.
“He admires and loves the king. It is a very important relationship,” Mr. Vance said in an interview published on Tuesday by a British news and opinion website, UnHerd, referring to King Charles III.
Mr. Vance said the White House was working closely with Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain and his government. “I think there’s a good chance that, yes, we’ll come to a great agreement that’s in the best interest of both countries,” he said.
Mr. Vance did not go into the details of a potential deal, which are complicated and politically charged in Britain. The country is one of many lining up for talks with the United States since Mr. Trump imposed across-the-board tariffs on dozens of countries, and much larger levies on China.
A senior British official said last week that he believed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would focus initially on an agreement with Japan, the fourth-largest trading partner of the United States, after Canada, Mexico and China. The European Union has the largest trading volume with the United States overall, but it is not viewed as a priority in the same way as those other countries.
Still, Mr. Vance softened his tone toward Europe after an acrimonious stretch in which he scolded European leaders, appeared to endorse far-right parties like Alternative for Germany, or AfD, and disparaged the armed forces of Britain and France, both of which fought alongside American troops in Afghanistan.
“I love Europe,” Mr. Vance told UnHerd. “I love European people. I’ve said repeatedly that I think that you can’t separate American culture from European culture.”
It was a far cry from Mr. Vance’s dismissive tone at the Munich Security Conference, where he told European leaders that if they continued to ignore the views of their people, “there is nothing America can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything you can do for the American people.”
Mr. Vance later provoked outrage in Britain and France when he said that a minerals deal being negotiated between the United States and Ukraine was a “better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”
Britain and France have been trying to marshal troops to guarantee Ukraine’s security if a peace settlement with Russia is reached. Britain fought with the United States in Afghanistan and Iraq, while French troops fought in Afghanistan.
But the vice president did not drop his complaint that many European countries have failed to shoulder the burden of their security. “It’s not good for Europe to be the permanent security vassal of the United States,” he told UnHerd.
Mr. Vance exempted Britain and France from that category. (He had insisted that his earlier remarks about “random countries” did not apply to them, though it was not clear to whom else he could have been referring.)
Despite the good will, analysts say the long-awaited trade deal could still be elusive. In previous negotiations, the United States has pushed Britain to accept imports of American beef and poultry. Critics in Britain have for years derided the specter of “chlorinated chicken,” making it hard for any British government to compromise.
Mr. Vance’s choice of UnHerd for the interview was notable. The website was founded in 2017 by a hedge fund manager, Paul Marshall, who was once a donor to Britain’s Liberal Democratic Party, but has since swung right in his political views. Mr. Marshall also owns The Spectator, a right-of-center commentary magazine, and is an investor in GB News, a right-wing news channel.
