by Andrew Macaskill

London (Reuters) -Londres and Washington will announce agreements on civilian technology and nuclear energy during the second state visit by Donald Trump to the United Kingdom this week, while the two countries continue to discuss customs duties on steel as part of a highly anticipated trade agreement.

As in 2019, during his first mandate, Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, will be entitled to royal honors when they arrived in London on Wednesday, notably with a body procession, a state banquet or an aerial parade.

The British government thus intends to flatter the Ego of Donald Trump, the first American president to make two state visits in the United Kingdom, while London seeks to tighten links with Washington in matters of defense, security and energy, after obtaining a rather favorable agreement on customs duties.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer will welcome Donald Trump to his Checquers campaign residence on Thursday to discuss a closer collaboration on international subjects such as the war in Ukraine, and in order to finalize a drop in customs duties on steel and aluminum.

A spokesperson for Keir Starmer said that leaders would sign “a leading technological partnership”. The two countries will also sign chords of several billion dollars to develop small nuclear reactors – small modular reactors (PRM) – which could, in some cases, contribute to feeding new artificial intelligence data centers.

“Relations between the United Kingdom and the United States are the strongest in the world,” Keir Starmer spokesperson told journalists.

Steel negotiations

Although it is almost at the antipodes of Donald Trump on the political spectrum, Keir Starmer was the first world leader in concluding an agreement with Donald Trump on customs duties.

As part of this agreement, the United States has undertaken to reduce customs duties on imports of cars, aluminum and steel. If the details concerning customs duties on cars were agreed in June, the steel and aluminum agreement has not yet been finalized.

“Regarding steel, we will make sure to make an announcement as soon as possible,” said Peter Kyle, British Minister of Economy, to the BBC on Sunday.

London announced on Saturday nearly 1.5 billion euros in American investments from Paypal, Bank of America and others, while Nvidia and Openai should in turn announce investments within the framework of the technological agreement which will be signed during the visit of Donald Trump, said sources under the seal of anonymity.

The preparations for this visit-the second of Donald Trump in the United Kingdom in two months, after a private trip on one of Scottish golf courses in July-were disrupted by the dismissal of Peter Mandelson from his post as ambassador of the United Kingdom to the United States because of his links with Jeffrey Epstein, to which he had notably supported his first conviction.

(Written by Andrew Macaskill, with the contribution of Sarah Young; Tangi Salaün; edited by Augustin Turpin)

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