President Donald Trump will begin his second state visit to the United Kingdom on Wednesday. He will stay at Windsor Castle, King Charles III‘s royal residence just outside London. The president will be feted with military parades and an extravagant banquet. These will minister to his taste for grand shows of his power and the respect of others. 

But it will not be all pomp and circumstance. There will be extensive talks between Trump, his team, and the U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer‘s government. Trump’s two priorities should be to boost U.S.-U.K. economic and scientific ties and cooperation against China.

The prospect for valuable new collaboration is apparent. It was announced on Monday that a U.S. nuclear energy firm will join a British counterpart to build modular nuclear reactors in northern England. As the Washington Examiner’s Christian Datoc reports, this deal is designed to boost Britain’s power base and reduce the country’s high energy costs, while meeting surging demand from artificial intelligence, and to reduce London’s dependence on indirect supplies of Russian energy.

Starmer will be keen to secure cooperation in sensitive military and civilian research related to AI, quantum computing, and other advanced research areas. This is possible. Close U.S.-U.K. military and intelligence cooperation offers an example of bold action. The fusion of the two countries’ signals intelligence agencies, the NSA and GCHQ, already enables cutting-edge collaboration in new areas of science and technology.

Another focus should be on reducing trade barriers. The United States and the U.K. reached a deal this year that brought some positive developments, including for U.S. agricultural exporters. But it retained a 10% tariff on U.K. exports to the U.S. This undermines the special relationship by fostering U.K. public anger. And it does not serve U.S. interests because America runs a trade surplus with Britain, $11.4 billion in 2024. Both countries would benefit from lower barriers to competition and easier business engagement. Trump should remember that the best political-economic deals are founded at the intersection of mutual benefit and trust.

Trump’s second state visit to Britain should focus on how the two can deal with China together.