Theresa May to lay foundations for bilateral trade deal with Trump
Prime Minister Theresa May and President Donald Trump are to meet later in Washington on Friday.
The meeting will be the first Trump will have as president with a world leader and the two are expected to discuss Nato and a potential bilateral trade deal once Britain leaves the EU.
On Thursday, May told Republicans at their congressional retreat in Philadelphia that Britain and the US have a “joint responsibility to lead and although the two countries could not return to “failed policies of the past to make countries “in our image”, they could “stand idly by when the threat is real”.
She said: “We — our two countries together — have a joint responsibility to lead,” she said. “Because when others step up as we step back, it is bad for America, for Britain and the world.”
May stressed the importance of the military alliance in her speech and is expected to do the same with Trump later, who has said that Nato was obsolete.
The visit is also to begin work on a bilateral trade agreement which would give credence to May’s speech last week in London and Davos that Britain would be a world leader in trade once it leaves the EU.
Trump has voiced his disdain for group trade deals as he has withdrawn the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and wants to renegotiate the North American Trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
May’s visit to Trump has left MPs irate as they have called on her to speak out against Trump’s policies and rhetoric. He recently said that torture “absolutely” works.