King Charles III and the Prince of Wales are expected to make separate trips to the US in 2026 as part of a campaign to revitalise a trade deal with Donald Trump, it has been reported.
Advanced talks on a visit by the king are said to be under way, the Times reported. The paper suggested that Charles’s visit to the US was likely to take place in April.
William is expected to make a separate visit to the US later in the year during the World Cup, which will be hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico from 11 June to 19 July.
The visit would be the first by a reigning British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II accepted an invitation from George W Bush in 2007.
Earlier this month, the US paused its promised multibillion-pound investment into British tech over trade disagreements.
As part of the £31bn deal, hailed by Keir Starmer as “a generational step-change in our relationship with the US” when it was announced during Trump’s state visit, US tech companies pledged to spend billions in the UK, including a £22bn investment from Microsoft and £5bn from Google.
But Washington paused the implementation of the agreement, citing a lack of progress from the UK in lowering trade barriers in other areas.
The decision to put it on hold was a blow to the UK government, which touted the agreement as a prize of its intensive year-long engagement with the US to avoid punitive tariffs on British exports. As part of his diplomatic charm offensive, Starmer had hosted Trump for a second state visit at Windsor Castle in September, an unprecedented honour for a US president.
Earlier in December, Downing Street said the government was still in “active conversations” with the US on the tech deal. But the prime minister’s spokesperson acknowledged that “negotiations of this kind are never straightforward”.
Reports suggested US negotiators had become frustrated by slow progress in agreeing a wider trade deal announced in May 2025, when Britain escaped the 20% tariffs that the US president imposed on much of the rest of the world.
Britain’s digital services tax, opposed by Trump’s big tech backers, and the sensitive issue of greater access to British markets for US farmers, are thought to be sticking points.
It is possible that the visit will be timed to ensure that the prince is in the US for Independence Day, the Times reported.
The prime minister is not expected to accompany the king on the visit. Instead, the foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, is likely to attend to represent the government, according to reports.
William is expected to visit the US during the World Cup in his capacity as the president of the Football Association. England’s third group match is being played on 27 June in New Jersey, a week before the 250th anniversary of the US Declaration of Independence celebrations on 4 July.
For the bicentennial celebrations of independence in 1976, the queen and Prince Philip visited Philadelphia, Washington DC and New York over six days. The queen was hosted by President Gerald Ford at a White House state dinner.
She spoke of her visit during her Christmas broadcast the same year, and said: “This year we went to America to join in their bicentennial celebrations. Who would have thought 200 years ago that a descendant of King George III could have taken part in these celebrations? Yet that same king was among the first to recognise that old scores must be settled and differences reconciled.”
She added: “The United States was born in bitter conflict with Britain but we didn’t remain enemies for long.”
Buckingham Palace declined to comment, stating it did not comment on upcoming royal engagements.
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