British politicians are expressing alarm that the new U.S.–UK trade deal gives President Donald Trump the power to block Chinese investments in critical British infrastructure.
The deal announced last week requires the UK to “promptly meet U.S. requirements” to shield supply chains and “relevant production facilities” from foreign investment. If the European country does not meet these requirements, the U.S. can reimpose tariffs, effectively using trade pressure to dictate which countries can invest in the UK’s core infrastructure.
That clause triggered immediate backlash from British lawmakers and media, who say the U.S. now has a de facto “veto” over foreign investment — specifically Chinese money flowing into the UK’s steel and aluminum sectors.
“Starmer hands Trump ‘veto’ on Chinese investment in UK,” read a headline in The Telegraph, a prominent British conservative media.
“Now it looks like [Starmer’s] effectively handed America a veto over investment decisions in the UK,” Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel told The Telegraph. “The U.S. has told Starmer to jump, and he’s said, ‘How high?’”
China has invested over $100 billion in the UK over the last two decades, targeting energy, water and manufacturing. Many of these investment projects aim to bring production and intellectual property back to China.
The UK Parliament convened an emergency session during the Easter holiday to take control of the Chinese-owned manufacturer British Steel, one of the largest producers of steel in the UK, after it threatened to stop production and begin processing imported Chinese metal instead. This led China’s government to warn the UK against “politicizing and over-securitizing economic and trade cooperation” or risk affecting the “confidence of Chinese enterprises in investing and cooperating in the UK,” the Associated Press reported.
While the trade deal’s restrictions apply broadly to foreign investment, UK officials told The Financial Times the language is aimed squarely at China.
“Washington wants the UK and others to peel away from Chinese trade and investment, especially in sensitive areas like steel,” said Allie Renison, a former trade official, speaking to the FT.
Opposition leaders also expressed outrage over other parts of the deal, saying that Trump had outmaneuvered Starmer.
“We cut our tariffs — America tripled theirs … we’ve just been shafted!” Kemi Badenoch, leader of the opposition Conservative Party, told a reporter.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government pushed back as criticism mounted, insisting the U.S. does not have a formal veto over Chinese investments — just a shared policy objective.
“We will also work together to protect our industries from any third country investment that concerns either one of us. This will be done on the basis of equal partnership and is not, in any way, a veto,” a government spokesman told The Telegraph.
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