TOKYO: Britain and Japan agreed to strengthen defense and economic ties, visiting Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Saturday, after his bid to forge closer links with China drew warnings from US President Donald Trump.

Starmer noted that Japan and Britain were the leading economies in a trans-Pacific that includes fellow G7 member Canada, as well as other international trade and defense pacts.

“We set out a clear priority to build an even deeper partnership in the years to come,” Starmer said as he stood beside Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi after a bilateral meeting in Tokyo.

“That includes working together to strengthen our collective security, across the Euro-Atlantic and in the Indo-Pacific.”

Takaichi said they agreed to hold a meeting of British and Japanese foreign and defense ministers this year.