The new US ambassador meets Starmer after Trump urges the UK to drill for more oil
May 23, 2025, 8:52 AM
US Ambassador to the UK Warren A. Stephens arrives in Downing Street, London, ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, Friday, May 23, 2025. (James Manning/PA Wire/PA via AP)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(James Manning/PA Wire/PA via AP)
LONDON (AP) — U.S. Ambassador Warren Stephens met British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday to “convey the priorities of the Trump administration,” after President Donald Trump urged the U.K. to ditch wind power projects and drill for oil.
The U.S. Embassy said those priorities include “maximizing the U.S.-U.K. partnership to advance our shared interests, such as the recently announced trade deal and our defense and security alliance which promotes stability and prosperity worldwide.”
The embassy said the meeting at 10 Downing St. was the second for the two men since Stephens, a billionaire investment banker and Republican donor, took up his post on May 12.
Stephens arrived in London just after the two governments struck a trade deal that saw the Trump administration lift tariffs on U.K. autos, steel and aluminum in return for greater access to Britain for American products including beef and ethanol.
Trump wrote on the Truth Social platform Friday that the agreement “is working out very well for all.”
But he advised Britain “that in order to get their Energy Costs down, they stop with the costly and unsightly windmills, and incentivize modernized drilling in the North Sea, where large amounts of oil lay waiting to be taken.”
He said the North Sea had “a century of drilling left, with Aberdeen as the hub,” and claimed “U.K.’s Energy Costs would go WAY DOWN, and fast!” with more oil extraction.
One of the president’s two Scottish golf courses, Trump International Golf Links, is near Aberdeen.
Britain is investing heavily in wind farms as it seeks to generate all of the country’s energy from renewable sources by 2030 and break free from what Starmer has called “the rollercoaster of international fossil fuel markets.”
The Trump administration is doing the opposite — prioritizing fossil fuels, including boosting coal, canceling financing for clean energy and climate-friendly projects, and targeting the wind industry.
In contrast to his words about Britain, Trump threatened Friday to impose a 50% tax on all imports from the EU, saying trade talks with the 27-nation bloc “are going nowhere.”
