(Bloomberg) -- Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump plans to meet with the new UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, as well as the president of the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior adviser, as the former president continues to hold sway with foreign leaders in the shadow of the US election.
The meetings come as scores of heads of state and diplomats have gathered for the annual United Nations General Assembly this week in New York.
Starmer’s get-together with Trump on Thursday will be his first since his Labour Party swept to power in the July British elections. Since then, however, the new government has stumbled over its economic agenda and reports of infighting, and Starmer has had to explain gifts that he accepted over the years.
The UK leader said before traveling to New York that he hoped to meet both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, and that the UK stood ready to work alongside whoever emerged victorious in the US election this November. The prime minister’s office didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment on his get-together with Trump.
Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the UAE, was to meet with Trump on Wednesday after huddling with Harris and President Joe Biden on Monday at the White House.
The visit of MBZ, as he is widely known, came after Israel launched air strikes in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah targets, intensifying international concern that a wider conflict could further destabilize the region and undercut Biden’s broader efforts to broker a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Both Trump and Harris have sought validation from global allies and partners in a bid to bolster their electoral standing in the closely contested race. The Democratic nominee is planning to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House on Thursday to discuss US assistance for the ongoing war with Russia.
Trump has hosted several world leaders in recent months as foreign capitals grapple with the prospect of him returning to power and as he seeks to align himself with those abroad who share his ideological leanings, including as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
The Harris campaign, at the same time, has tried to highlight her foreign policy role as vice president while also seeking to cast her as a leader in her own right, with policies that may differ from Biden’s.
After a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in July, Harris said she had pressured him to accept a cease-fire deal and warned him about the civilian death toll in the Gaza Strip, striking a more strident public tone than Biden.
--With assistance from Alex Morales.
©2024 Bloomberg L.P.
