Trump and May to discuss new trade deal
The Trump administration will lay the groundwork this week for a trade deal between the US and the UK that would take effect after Britain leaves the EU, a White House aide said, as Prime Minister Theresa May becomes the first foreign leader to visit the new president.
May last week declared Britain is “open for business” as she announced plans to pursue a clean break with the EU, paving the way for the UK to eventually strike new trade accords with the continent and other countries.
The prime minister said she would travel to Washington and speak to President Donald Trump on Friday.
“We’ll have an opportunity to talk about our possible future trading relationship but also some of the world’s challenges that we all face — issues like defeating terrorism, the conflict in Syria,” and Nato (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), May said in an interview on the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday.
“When I sit down with Donald Trump, I’m going to be talking about how we can build on that special relationship.”
Trump officials believe their discussions with May’s government encouraged her to be more aggressive in exiting the EU. She can use any US support to argue the UK will prosper outside the bloc, although she risks inflaming tensions with European leaders if they suspect her government is actively negotiating trade deals while still an EU member.
JOHNSON MEETINGS
Two of Trump’s senior advisers, Steve Bannon and son-in-law Jared Kushner, met with UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson in New York on January 8.
The three were preparing for the future pact, the aide said, requesting anonymity because the discussions are not public.
Bannon, Trump’s National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, and other administration officials had also met with British defence and intelligence leaders, the aide said.
Former president Barack Obama warned in April that if the UK pursued Brexit, the country would go to the “back of the queue” for US trade deals.
UK voters chose to leave the EU anyway in a June referendum, and Trump now appears to be scrapping Obama’s position on the matter.
Trump’s team is also considering a deal to reduce barriers between US and British banks, the Sunday Telegraph reported, quoting officials.
US ENVOY
Trump had tapped Woody Johnson, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets NFL team, to serve as US ambassador to the UK, a person familiar with the matter said on January 19.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto would also make visits to the US this month to meet with Trump, administration officials said.
Pena Nieto would meet with Trump on January 31, said press secretary Sean Spicer.
Trade, immigration and Trump’s campaign promise to build a wall on the southern US border loom large in the new US president’s relations with Mexico.
I’M GOING TO BE TALKING ABOUT HOW WE CAN BUILD ON THAT SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP