UK finance and business ministers to accompany PM Starmer on China visit

The visit comes as UK-US tensions rise over trade and defence issues

British finance minister Rachel Reeves will accompany Prime Minister Keir Starmer on his trip to China next week, underscoring UK efforts to strengthen ties with the world's second-largest economy at a time of strained transatlantic relations.

Reeves will join Starmer and business leaders on the trip next week, the first by a British prime minister to China since 2018, three sources familiar with the visit told Reuters.

Business secretary Peter Kyle, who will also be on the trip, and Reeves will have separate itineraries from the prime minister, one of the sources said. Their presence on the visit has not previously been reported.

The Treasury and the Department for Business and Trade declined to comment.

The decision to send the two most senior figures in the government, and the business secretary, shows the importance the British government is placing on the visit, which comes amid tensions between Britain and its traditional closest ally, the United States, over President Donald Trump's unpredictable approach to trade and defence.

Britain wants closer economic and trade ties with China to help boost the economy after Starmer pledged to improve living standards through investment in public services and the economy. But the strategy has drawn fierce criticism from some British and US politicians.

China was Britain's fourth-largest trading partner with trade totalling around 100 billion pounds a year in the 12 months to the end of the second quarter in 2025, according to government data.