Trump says he spoke with new UK leader Andy Burnham on oil, Hormuz

Trump the president said the two discussed North Sea oil, trade, the military alliance and demining the Strait of Hormuz, and planned to meet soon on topics of mutual interest.

First Published: July 20, 2026, 2:36 PM ET

WASHINGTON D.C. — Donald Trump said he held a wide-ranging call with the man he identified as the new British prime minister, Andy Burnham.

The president described the exchange as a very good conversation that spanned North Sea oil, trade, the military alliance and demining the Strait of Hormuz, according to a Truth Social post published on July 20, 2026 at 6:18 PM ET. He said the two leaders would meet in the not too distant future for topics of mutual interest.

Here is the full post on truthsocial: “I had a very good conversation with the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Andy Burnham. We discussed many subjects, including the outstanding relationship we have had with the UK. We will be meeting in the not too distant future for topics of mutual interest. The Prime Minister has got a big job ahead of him, but he will be able to do it and, of course, the U.S.A. will be there to help! We discussed North Sea Oil, Trade, the Military Alliance, Demining of the Hormuz Strait, and many other topics. The call was interesting, and went very well. I wished Prime Minister Burnham, GOOD LUCK AND GODSPEED! Trump”

“The Prime Minister has got a big job ahead of him, but he will be able to do it and, of course, the U.S.A. will be there to help,” Trump said in the post. He closed the message by wishing the leader good luck and Godspeed.

The agenda Trump laid out touches the core of the transatlantic relationship. North Sea oil ties Britain to its largest domestic energy source, while trade and the military alliance anchor decades of cooperation between Washington and London. Demining the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a large share of the world’s seaborne crude, would carry direct consequences for global energy prices and for American drivers at the pump.

Has this happened before? Trump has repeatedly used Truth Social to summarize calls with foreign leaders and to cast the United States as a partner ready to help. In the last 30 days, 62 of 467 Trump posts carried the Foreign Policy topic, according to a Zenger analysis of Truth Social activity.

The next word on the substance of the call rests with the British government and with any joint statement from the two sides. A date for the promised meeting between the leaders has not been announced.

British-American summitry has produced history before, and not always as scripted. Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt met aboard warships off Newfoundland in August 1941 and signed the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration of war aims that helped shape the postwar order. That meeting came months before the United States entered World War II in December 1941. A single conversation between British and American leaders can commit both nations long before the details are settled.