Moving from pageantry to policy during his state visit to Britain, U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday urged embattled Prime Minister Theresa May to “stick around” to complete a U.S.-U.K. trade deal, adding to this recent chapter of uncertainty in the allies’ storied relationship.
The president, whose praise for May comes after spending days touting her possible successors, met with the prime minister and corporate executives from the United States and United Kingdom as part of a day of negotiations ahead of a news conference on Trump’s second day on British soil. The leaders’ top priority is a possible bilateral trade deal to take effect once — or if — the U.K. leaves the European Union.
May is leaving because she failed to secure a Brexit deal. On Friday, just days after Trump departs England, May will resign as head of the Conservative Party though remain as prime minister until her successor has been chosen. Trump has been sharply critical of May in the past but only had warm words for her Tuesday and urged her to stay to “get this deal done.”
“I think we’ll have a very, very substantial trade deal,” said Trump, extolling its virtues for both nations. “I think that this is something we both want to do … we’re going to get it done.”
WATCH: Trump brings controversy, criticism to 1st UK state visit
Trump brings controversy, criticism to 1st UK state visit
After Trump suggested May stay on, most in the room chuckled.Traditionally, U.S. presidents avoid interjecting themselves in the domestic politics of other nations. But Trump is far from traditional.READ MORE: Donald Trump kicks off British visit with tweet against London mayor: ‘He is a stone cold loser’Trump told the Sunday Times in an interview ahead of his visit that Britain should “walk away” from talks and refuse to pay a 39 billion-pound ($49 billion) divorce bill if it doesn’t get better terms from the EU.That move, known as a “hard Brexit,” could have a devastating impact on the U.K. economy, according to many experts, and stands in contrast to a previous White House position that the departure should be done as painlessly as possible. Others in the U.K. are urging for a second referendum that could keep the EU intact.WATCH: London’s mayor calls Trump a ‘poster boy for the far-right’
London’s mayor calls Trump a ‘poster boy for the far-right’
The president has also opined that Brexit party leader Nigel Farage, an outspoken advocate of leaving the EU without a deal, should be given a role in the negotiations. Farage, a divisive figure in Britain, has long been a Trump supporter. And while Trump has avoided criticizing May on this visit, unlike a year ago when he blistered her in an email just before landing in London, the president has also touted her rival, Conservative Party leadership candidate Boris Johnson, as an “excellent” leader for the U.K.READ MORE: Mexico warns U.S. proposed tariffs could damage economy, cause influx of migrantsThe economic meeting at St. James’s Palace brought together 10 leading companies — five from the UK and five from the United States. CEOs and senior representatives from BAE Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, National Grid, Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser, JP Morgan, Lockheed Martin, Goldman Sachs International, Bechtel and Splunk were listed as attending.While the business leaders gathered, protesters began to assemble across London, some of whom had had the now-infamous Trump baby balloon bobbing in the air near Parliament Square.The U.S. president arrived in London at a precarious moment, amid a fresh round of impeachment fervor back home and uncertainty on this side of the Atlantic. The day of meetings with May comes after a whirlwind of pomp, circumstance and protest for Trump, who had lunch with Queen Elizabeth II and tea with Prince Charles before a grand state dinner at Buckingham Palace.WATCH: Activists protest Trump’s U.K. trip outside Buckingham Palace
The queen used her toast to emphasize the importance of international institutions created by Britain, the United States and other allies after World War II, a subtle rebuttal to Trump, a critic of NATO and the U.N.But most of the talk and the colorful images were just what the White House wanted to showcase Trump as a statesman while, back home, the race to succeed him — and talk of impeaching him — heated up. Yet Trump, forever a counter-puncher, immediately roiled diplomatic docility by tearing into London Mayor Sadiq Khan.And as so often happens when Trump travels overseas, norms were shattered, including when the president complained about his television viewing options in the foreign capital and urged people to punish CNN by boycotting its parent company, AT&T.WATCH: Trump says UK showed world ‘what it means to be British’ in Second World War
Trump says UK showed world ‘what it means to be British’ in Second World War
Following Tuesday’s focus on business and trade, Trump will use the next two days to mark the 75th anniversary of the June 6, 1944, D-Day landing, likely the last significant commemoration most veterans of the battle will see. The events will begin in Portsmouth, England, where the invasion was launched, and then move across the Channel to France, where Allied forces began to recapture Western Europe from the Nazis.French President Emmanuel Macron is expected to use the 75th anniversary of the World War II battle that turned the tide on the Western Front to call for strengthening multinational ties the U.S. president has frayed.___AP writers Gregory Katz and Jill Lawless in London and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.
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