Trump family deal with fusion energy firm adds to complicated UK-US ties
TAE Technologies has already agreed joint venture with UK government’s atomic laboratory
US President Donald Trump’s family has gone into business with the British government, adding a fresh dimension to an already complicated relationship.
Trump Media & Technology Group, the Trump family media business, said on Thursday that it had agreed to combine with fusion energy company TAE Technologies in a $6bn merger to build “the world’s first utility-scale fusion power plant”.
The twist in the deal is that TAE Technologies, which is backed by US tech group Google and oil major Chevron, this month struck a joint venture with the UK government’s atomic laboratory.
The state-owned UK Atomic Energy Authority would contribute £5.6mn in equity to the new venture, based in Oxfordshire, the government said.
It touted the partnership as evidence of the “technology prosperity deal” that was signed by London and Washington in September but has since been suspended, amid US concerns over progress on trade talks.
Now it is also a business link between the Starmer administration and the Trump dynasty.
The Department for Business and Trade said the joint venture was “going through the usual regulatory and due diligence processes”.
One official said the government had not been aware of discussions between TMTG and TAE Technologies at the time the decision was made.
The way the Trumps have enriched themselves rapidly since Donald Trump returned to the White House this year is in contrast to his predecessors, who have tended to make modest financial sacrifices for the duration of their term of office.
In Britain politicians have to divest or manage any potential business or financial interests when they become ministers.
Rishi Sunak, the last prime minister and the wealthiest MP in British history, put his investments in a blind trust while he was in government, meaning they were managed by a third party.
“This could bring all manner of headaches, as spending government money on a firm associated with Trump will be unpopular with British voters,” said Robert Ford, professor of political science at the University of Manchester.
“But attempts to back out of the deal may provoke anger and even lawsuits from the notoriously litigious Trump,” he added.
According to a Financial Times investigation, the family’s business has already reaped more than $1bn in pre-tax profits over the past year, in part thanks to a cryptocurrency boom fuelled by the administration’s industry-friendly policies.
Trump set up TMTG to run his Truth Social app after being banned from major social networks after the Capitol Hill attack of January 6 2021. Its board includes FBI director Kash Patel and his son, Donald Trump Jr, who will also serve on the board of the new entity announced on Tuesday.
Built on right-leaning online politics, earlier this year TMTG pivoted towards crypto, raising billions of dollars to buy tokens, and is launching several bitcoin funds.
Just as Trump’s digital currency ventures have netted gains, so he has had no compunction in leaning on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to try to benefit his family’s sprawling golf business.
During Starmer’s visit to the White House in February, Trump raised the possibility of the Turnberry golf resort in Scotland — which the US president owns — returning as a venue for the Open Championship.
The R&A, the body that runs the Open, the oldest golf championship in the world, in 2021 said it would not host the tournament at Trump’s Turnberry resort in the wake of the January 6 attack.
Trump has repeatedly asked Starmer to try to overturn that block. “He did go on about Turnberry,” said one person involved in the February visit.
In July the president took part of his summer holiday at Turnberry, mixing business with pleasure as Starmer flew in to meet him at his hotel with near-full media access.
The two leaders later flew together on Air Force One, the president’s official plane, to view Trump’s new golf course in Aberdeenshire.
Starmer said this year that he “likes and respects” the US president, despite their differences in policy on areas ranging from immigration to wind farms.
By maintaining a friendly approach to Trump, Starmer has been able to secure financial and diplomatic wins for the UK, he has maintained.
In May, for example, London stressed the benefits of a trade pact aimed at cushioning the impact of Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs, which granted lower-tariff quotas for British car and steel exports.
But Washington’s decision this month to suspend implementation of the tech prosperity deal, signed during Trump’s second state visit to Britain in September, is evidence of the unpredictability of the “special relationship” under him.
“Any government dealing with Trump is at risk of finding itself complicit in his moneymaking activities,” said one Labour figure. “But it would be a brave prime minister who decided to snub him or elevated ethical principles above a much-needed investment in the UK economy.”
