By Steve Holland, Andrew MacAskill and Elizabeth Piper
CHEQUERS, England (Reuters) - Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hailed the renewal of their nations' "special relationship" on Thursday, drawing the U.S leader's unprecedented second state visit to a close with a show of unity after avoiding possible pitfalls.
At a warm press conference when the two leaders glossed over differences on Gaza and wind power to present a united front, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had "let him down" and he was disappointed other countries were still buying Russian oil because only a low oil price would punish Moscow.
After two days of his state visit to Britain, which the U.S. leader described as an "exquisite honour", Trump was in a relaxed mode at the final press conference while Starmer was focused on avoiding areas of disagreement.
Neither leader was tripped up by potentially embarrassing subjects, with both batting away questions over the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his ties to Trump and to Starmer's former ambassador to the U.S.
LEADERS PRAISE THEIR CLOSE TIES
"We've renewed the special relationship for a new era," Starmer told reporters.
"This partnership today is a signal of our determination to win this race together and to ensure it brings real benefits in jobs, in growth, in lower bills, to put more hard-earned cash in people's pockets at the end of each month."
Trump also paid homage to the close ties enjoyed by the two countries, saying Starmer was a tough negotiator in securing the first tariff deal with the U.S., although Britain has still not got the lower U.S. tariffs on steel that it was seeking.
"We're forever joined, and we are forever friends and we will always be friends," Trump said.
Earlier, at the start of a business reception, some of the leading names in U.S. and UK business were welcomed by the two leaders to unveil a record 150 billion pound ($205 billion) package of U.S. investment into Britain, part of a wider 250 billion pound package officials say will benefit both sides.
TRUMP DESCRIBES 'PRICELESS TIES'
Starmer said the deals would "light up the special relationship for years to come". Trump was equally effusive. "The ties between our countries are priceless.
"We've done some things that financially are great for both countries ... I think it's an unbreakable bond we have, regardless of what we're doing today. I think it's unbreakable."
Starmer has pitched Britain as a destination for U.S. investment, aligned to its financial services, tech and energy sectors so it can draw in U.S. capital and build out its infrastructure to grow the economy.
He was keen to champion deals including a new technology pact with companies from Microsoft to Nvidia and OpenAI pledging 31 billion pounds ($42 billion) and 100 billion pounds from Blackstone.
BOTH NAVIGATE DIFFERENCES ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS
In terms of any differences, it was on foreign affairs where the two were most out of lockstep.
Starmer, and other European leaders, have been pressing Trump to put more pressure on Putin to end his war against Ukraine; Trump, while criticising the Russian president, failed to mention any further sanctions against Moscow.
The U.S. leader again expressed frustration that European nations were still buying Russian oil, but said Starmer was not part of their number.
Trump also repeated his position that he disagreed with countries recognising Palestine - something Starmer has said Britain will do if Israel fails to relieve suffering in Gaza and reach a ceasefire in its nearly two-year war with Hamas.
"I have a disagreement with the Prime Minister on that score, one of our few disagreements, actually," Trump said.
But the two leaders sidestepped questions on Epstein, after both were asked about Starmer's decisions to sack Peter Mandelson as ambassador to the U.S. last week after his close ties with the late financier were released. Trump's relationship with Epstein has also come under scrutiny.
"I don't know him actually," Trump said in response to a question about Mandelson. "I think the prime minister would be better speaking over that, it was a choice that he made."
Starmer repeated his position: "Some information came to light last week which wasn't available when he was appointed and I made a decision about it, and that's very clear."
The UK leader also avoided a blowup on differing UK and U.S. interpretations of free speech, after Trump said Britain had "laid the foundations of law, liberty, free speech and individual rights" under its empire and "must continue to stand for the values ... of the English-speaking world".
When the final question was answered, a clearly relieved Starmer ushered Trump out of the Great Hall at Chequers before the president leaves to return to Washington.
($1 = 0.7328 pounds)
(Additional reporting by William James, Muvija M, Catarina Demony, Alistair Smout and Sam Tabahriti, Editing by Lincoln Feast, Philippa Fletcher and Kate Holton)
