By Bo Erickson and Andrew MacAskill
WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Jan 30 (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump warned the United Kingdom against getting into business with China as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer lauded the economic benefits of resetting relations with Beijing during a visit to the Chinese capital on Friday.
With Western leaders reeling from the unpredictability of Trump, Starmer is the latest to head to China, where he called for a "more sophisticated relationship" with improved market access, lower tariffs and investment deals in three-hours of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
During the premiere of the "Melania" film at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Trump was asked about the UK pledging greater business ties with China, and he told reporters: "Well, it's very dangerous for them to do that."
A Downing Street spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Around the time Trump made the remarks, Starmer told a meeting of the UK-China Business Forum in the Chinese capital that he had "very warm" meetings with Xi that provided "just the level of engagement that we hoped for."
"We warmly engaged and made some real progress, actually, because the UK has got a huge amount to offer," Starmer said.
Starmer hailed agreements on visa-free travel and lowering whisky tariffs as "really important access, symbolic of what we're doing with the relationship."
"That is the way that we build the mutual trust and respect that is so important," Starmer told the event attended by British and Chinese businesspeople.
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STARMER NOT CHOOSING BETWEEN U.S. AND CHINA
Starmer, whose centre-left Labour government has struggled to deliver the economic growth it promised, has made improving relations with the world's second-largest economy a priority.
His visit comes amid Trump's on-off threats of trade tariffs and pledges to grab control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of Denmark, which have rattled long-standing U.S. allies, such as Britain.
Starmer told reporters on the plane on the way to China that Britain could continue to strengthen economic ties with China - without angering Trump - because of his country's long history of working closely with the United States.
"The relationship we have with the U.S. is one of the closest relationships we hold, on defence, security, intelligence and also on trade and lots of areas," he said.
Starmer said Britain would not have to choose between closer ties with the United States or China, highlighting Trump's visit to Britain in September where they announced 150 billion pound of U.S investment into Britain.
Trump earlier this week threatened to impose tariffs on Canada if it goes through with economic deals struck with China on a recent visit to Beijing by its leader Mark Carney.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is expected to travel to China soon and Trump himself has said he will visit in April.
(Reporting by Bo Erickson in Washington and Andrew MacAskill in Beijing; Writing by Jasper Ward and John Geddie; Editing by Neil Fullick)
