If the best version of diplomacy is silence, as the famed British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once said, Sir Keir Starmer will have adjusted his settings and come away from President Trump’s unprecedented second state visit breathing a sigh of relief – for now. Success measured by the yardstick of crises averted and bilateral ties assured, with a few bells and whistle announcements rather than any major agreements.The stakes going into the visit were high. Trump and his circle -led chiefly by his Vice President JD Vance- had hardly been restrained in offering up what they see as Britain’s free speech crisis on a platter for criticism. Paired with concerns over the state of its digital regulatory landscape, and the anticipated recognition by the UK government of Palestinian statehood, British officialdom was hoping that the President’s undeniable fondness for the UK would play its part in his restraint. In the end, it did – and then some. The biggest risk for Starmer was not in the scripted words of Trump’s address at the royal state banquet, but his penchant for off-script antics where pomp and circumstance ended, and the political press conference ensued. And it appeared that Trump came prepared to play nice – by his standards anyways. The president continued to frustrate the Labour leader’s critics by waxing lyrical yet again on the latter’s ‘tough negotiator’ skills in previously reaching an early trade deal that he insisted the UK was front of the queue for. The deal of course is only a provisional outline, with only marginal commitment gains relative to other US trading partners who have since struck their own framework agreements. Perhaps most surprising, particularly given the visit’s announcement of a new MoU-grounded partnership on technology cooperation rather than any further progress on tariffs, was the relative lack of critical press conference questions on the trade front writ large. There has been ample grounds to date for the subject to be raised in the run up to the state visit. Chief among US concerns relating to the UK has been around the latter’s Online Safety Act, albeit dreamed up and introduced by a previous Conservative government. In particular, Britain’s independent regulator Ofcom’s recent enforcement of it has drawn the ire of the Trump administration. Aimed at protecting minors from ‘harmful’ internet content, its extraterritorial reach has come into full effect as American tech firms complain of letters being sent to US websites with UK users warning of hefty fines in the absence of compliance. This intersection between tech and trade policy has become an ever greater risk for governments and regulators the world round, as Washington ramps up its war on what it deems as unfair and discriminatory rules affecting its digital industries. Naturally, the domination of the global digital economy by US firms means they are first in line to feel the pinch of foreign tech regulation. And it’s hard to make the case that there isn’t some level of selective targeting at play. Those firms who have long complained of what they see as expropriation now have strong ally in the Trump administration, and have been further backed by a recent letter from the Federal Trade Commission advising them not to comply with British and EU rules which could harm the privacy and data security of US consumers. A number of these companies were also in attendance alongside Trump for the state visit, complete with promises of new investment in the UK. A salutary reminder perhaps of the old adage that -certainly when brandishing bilateral ties- money talks. Indeed, it would have had to, in the absence of progress announcements on the actual trade policy front. Questions followed on the airwaves following the end of the visit about whether pulling out all the taxpayer-funded royal stops had been worth it insofar as assessing what Britain actually got -substantively- in return. Among the highlight reel, a restatement from Trump on why the UK had been first in line for its best-of-a-bad-bunch detail-lite “deal”, rather than any increased steps to pad it out and reduce tariffs further. No movement on Washington’s already-pledged commitment to create a quota for reduced duties on UK steel exports. Cooperation pledges on “pro-innovation” regulatory approaches artificial intelligence, bringing Britain closer into the US sphere on AI and drifting ever further away from the EU’s interventionist model. And yet, the reality of course is that a state visit -with all the trappings of royalty- is rarely meant to move the dial on thorny policy challenges. Trade diplomacy takes the place of trade policy accordingly. And in truth, Starmer has leveraged Britain’s monarchy far enough in navigating political relations with Trump without politicising it entirely. The invitation letter to Trump back in February was choregraphed to keep the UK positively in Trump’s sights as he mounted his tariff war. That King Charles...