Trump UK visit: Which business leaders will the US president meet with?

The president is set to dine at the family home of Sir Winston Churchill, with protesters planning to demonstrate outside

Donald Trump’s America First philosophy was always going to have an impact on overseas markets, and in recent weeks the effects have been clear as his tariff announcements ramped up fears of a trade war between the US and China.

It sets the stage for a great deal of interest in the president’s meeting with British businesses when he arrives in the UK for a four-day visit later this week.

Few details about the occasion, or the guest list, have been confirmed, but this is what we know so far.

The president is set to dine with around 150 business leaders at Blenheim Palace, the family home of Sir Winston Churchill, in Oxfordshire. A bust of the wartime prime minister, said to be a hero to the US leader, was returned to the Oval Office almost immediately after Mr Trump took office in 2016.

Security measures around the venue are already in place, and the president is expected to arrive in a helicopter on Thursday evening.

Theresa May will host the dinner, according to the Financial Times, and among those reported to be attending the event are industry leaders such as Ineos founder Jim Ratcliffe, BlackRock boss Larry Fink, Unilever CEO Paul Polman and Emma Walmsley, chief executive at GlaxoSmithKline. Other figures invited include Barclays boss Jes Staley and Goldman Sachs’s international CEO Richard Gnodde.

However, others have declined invitations to dine with the president. Baroness Lane-Fox, the founder of Lastminute.com, has revealed she will not be joining Mr Trump for dinner, telling the FT: “I understand why the government have to entertain Trump but I certainly don't want to.”

Some of those invited have reportedly been advised to avoid the event in a bid to distance themselves from some of Mr Trump’s more controversial policies.

However, Andrew Clark, a senior director at global communications firm Burson Cohn & Wolfe, said an invitation should be seen as a chance to listen to the president’s views, regardless of whether one agrees with his stance.

“We’d absolutely advise clients to go – I think it would be a missed opportunity not to. It’s an opportunity to engage with the head of the US government, and attendance doesn’t in any way indicate support for his policies," he said.

“There’s a vast amount to discuss at the moment in terms of transatlantic trade and you lose nothing by going and hearing what Trump has to say.”

Other confirmed attendees are numerous protesters, who plan to gather outside Blenheim Palace on Thursday evening. Oxford Stand Up to Racism, the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Together Against Trump are all planning to demonstrate at the event.

The protests will also be supported by local MP Layla Moran, who told the Oxford Mail she will be at Blenheim “leading the opposition to his visit”.

The Lib Dem MP for Oxford West and Abingdon said: "Trump’s rhetoric and policies go against the beliefs and values of residents across Oxford West and Abingdon, Oxfordshire and the country as a whole.

"I look forward to this cathartic moment and I hope that as many people as possible will join us outside Blenheim Palace next week to make sure Trump knows just how strongly we object to his mysogynistic, reactionary and racist agenda."

Inside Blenheim, organisers will be hoping the sounds of the Countess of Wessex’s orchestra will drown out and noise form demonstrators. The military ensemble is set to play a series of classic British and American hits throughout the dinner, and Mr Trump leave the event to the strains of the pipers from the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

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