US senator gives harsh warning over China
AMERICA could downgrade the UK’S security status and deliver a huge blow to a future trade pact unless Boris Johnson agrees to ditch the 5G deal with Huawei, a US senator has warned.
Ted Cruz called the Prime Minister’s decision to allow the Chinese telecoms giant to build part of Britain’s new mobile network a “serious mistake”.
The warning comes amid anger in the Republican Party and President Trump’s team that Mr Johnson has been snubbing Washington since Britain left the EU. Instead, during a big week for American conservatives, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has been feted at this weekend’s huge CPAC conference as Britain’s “unofficial ambassador” “godfather of Brexit”.
This is set to be a big week for Mr Johnson, with talks starting with the EU over the future relationship and the publication of Britain’s mandate for US trade talks.
Those US talks are meant to give Britain an alternative market and so put pressure on Brussels to make a better deal. But Mr Johnson’s actions appear to have soured relationships with key American allies who are strong backers of Brexit. and
The Sunday Express was given exclusive access to Mr Farage’s trip to Washington, where he met senior Republicans to discuss a trade deal and the Huawei crisis.
Sources in the Trump camp made it clear that the President has not tweeted about Huawei because “he does not want to embarrass Boris” but the US leader is “furious and upset”. They also noted that there is “confusion” over why Mr Johnson has not wanted to come to Washington since Brexit happened on January 31. Mr Farage said: “It’s worse than that. The two are not set to meet until the G7 in June and then it will be a brief handshake. Boris needs to be here and it has been noted that he has not come yet.”
He added: “The words which keep being used are ‘bad faith’ over Huawei, which suggests the British Government promised a different outcome privately.”
Last month’s decision to allow Huawei to build a chunk of the 5G network came despite warnings that it will hit relations with the US and other allies, who worry about the firm’s links to China’s state machine.
The Sunday Express has learned that the Australian government cancelled a security delegation to London in protest in the wake of the decision.
And in Washington senior figures have said Britain’s information sharing with the US as part of the Five Eyes security set-up, which also includes Australia, New Zealand and Canada, could be under threat. Trump ally and