In Davos, Trump downplays tensions with U.K., says visit remains possible
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said reports of tensions between him and Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May are a “false rumor” and the two leaders are on “the same wavelength.”
And while the president was seeking Thursday to repair any diplomatic rift with America’s closest ally after several fractious episodes culminated in his decision to cancel a scheduled visit to London — where the mayor and other political leaders declared him unwelcome — Mr. Trump indicated that the two sides were discussing the possibility of a later presidential trip to the island.
Indeed, Ms. May’s office said Thursday that the two leaders asked their officials “towork together on finalizing the details of a visit by the President to the U.K. later this year.”
The president’s comments came as Mr. Trump sat down with Ms. May in Davos, Switzerland, for his first meeting at the annual World Economic Forum. Their meeting follows Mr. Trump’s recent cancellation of a February trip to London amid expectations of mass protests against him. (For his part, the president said he would not come on the more low-key working visit to open the new U.S. Embassy in London because he did not approve of the location or the cost of the building.)
Ms. May had publicly rebuked Mr. Trump in November after the president shared anti-Muslim videos from the far-right group Britain First, and she also did so months earlier after Mr. Trump’s comments critical of Britain after a terrorist attack in London. In each case Mr. Trump wrote snarky tweets directed at Ms.May.
Earlier this month, a spokesman for Ms. May said she disagreed with Mr. Trump’s use of the word “shithole” to describe African countries during an immigration meeting with U.S. lawmakers.
“It’s a false rumor” that there is tension in the relationship between the U.S. and the United Kingdom, Mr. Trump said. “We’re on the same wavelength in, I think, every respect.”
Mr. Trump looked at Ms. May and said nothing could happen to Britain in which the U.S. would not come to its aid.
Ms. May then affirmed what has long been called the “special relationship” between the two countries. When asked about a state visit for Mr. Trump in London, Ms. May said it’s being discussed now.
While seeking to repair one diplomatic rift, Mr. Trump also widened another when he threatened Thursday to write off the Palestinian leadership and withdraw further U.S. aid if Palestinians are not serious about negotiating peace with Israel.
Mr. Trump cast doubt on whether talks could happen now, and blamed Palestinian intransigence rather than his decision to shift decades of U.S. policy on the status of Jerusalem.
“That money is on the table, and that money is not going to them unless they sit down and negotiate peace,” Mr. Trump said of the hundreds of millions in U.S. aid for the Palestinians.
Also, after comments by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin — that a “weaker dollar” is good for American trade — prompted one of the biggest daily falls in the dollar in years, the greenback was surging Thursday after Mr. Trump said that he wants a strong dollar.