New York trip may feature some diplomatic tensions
LIZ Truss will meet Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron in New York against the backdrop of Brexit tensions and questions over whether she regards the French leader a “friend or foe”.
In her first foreign trip as Prime Minister, Ms Truss was flying overnight to the United States for the annual United Nations General Assembly.
The visit will contain a series of meetings, including with the European Union’s Ursula von der Leyen, and a speech to world leaders. Ms Truss hopes the focus will be on energy security and combating Russia’s war in Ukraine, but clashes over the Northern Ireland Protocol are bound to feature.
Mr Biden, the US President, who has proud Irish heritage, has raised concerns about Brexit’s threat to the peace process and has downplayed the chances of striking a free-trade deal.
His French counterpart, Mr Macron, has long been a critic of Brexit and has been firm in pressing the UK to keep to commitments on Northern Ireland and fishing rights.
Ms Truss sparked a diplomatic row during the Tory leadership contest when she declined to give a clear answer when asked if the president of France was a “friend or foe”. Instead, the then foreign secretary said last month that the “jury’s out”.
Ahead of the visit to New York, the Prime Minister’s spokesman described France as a “long-standing ally” and insisted relations between London and Paris, as well as with the EU, are “good”.
Asked if the meeting with Mr Macron will be uncomfortable, the spokesman said: “No, the Prime Minister wants to build a constructive relationship with President Macron.”
Ms Truss will meet Mr Macron today, before seeing Mr Biden tomorrow. Meetings with the leaders of Turkey, Spain and Israel are also expected, and Ms Truss will warn that now is not the time to “take our foot off the gas” in opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Before leaving the US tomorrow evening, Ms Truss will use her summit speech to say the UK, under her leadership, will be “an active defender of our democratic values”.