With meeting, May, Trump affirm ties between U.S., U.K.

Washington — President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May appeared chummy as they faced a curious world together for the first time Friday, pledging allegiance to the special relationship between their countries while trying to mask stark differences on some major issues.

It was Trump’s first White House meeting with a foreign head of state.

Trump sought to charm May from the outset, showing her the bust of Prime Minister Winston Churchill that he’s using to decorate the Oval Office. He then opened a joint news conference by noting that his late mother was born in “Stornoway, which is serious Scotland.” Scotland is part of Great Britain.

May congratulated Trump on his “stunning election victory,” and announced that he had accepted the queen’s invitation for a state visit.

But the attempts at mutual flattery didn’t completely mask the leaders’ differences over some issues, including NATO and Russia.

May tried to push Trump toward positions she supports, noting that he had assured her he was “100%” behind NATO, a world body he has dismissed as “obsolete.” Trump did not contradict May as they stood together and answered journalists’ questions in the White House East Room.

When asked how close the U.S. is to lifting penalties that were imposed on Russia after its incursion into Ukraine, Trump said it was “very early to be talking about that.” May said sanctions should remain until a 2015 cease-fire agreement for Ukraine is fully implemented.