Donald Trump has dismissed talk of a breakdown in relations between the US and Britain as “false rumours” and declared his “tremendous respect” for the prime minister after the diplomatic spat sparked by the president’s retweeting of incendiary videos by a British far-right group last year.
The two leaders met at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where they discussed trade, the economy and defence over half an hour. It was their first meeting since Theresa May’s official spokesman rebuked the president last year for retweeting content from Britain First.
Speaking after meeting the prime minister, Mr Trump said: “I have tremendous respect for the PM and the job she’s doing and I think the feeling is mutual from the standpoint of liking each other a lot. There was a little bit of a false rumour out there. I just wanted to correct it, frankly, because we have great respect for each other.
“We are working on transactions in terms of economic development, trade and, maybe most importantly, military. We are joined at the hip when it comes to the military. We have the same ideas, the same ideals and there is nothing that could happen to you that we wouldn’t be there to fight for you. You know that.”
Mrs May also confirmed that relations remained strong. “We continue to have that really special relationship between the UK and the United States,” the prime minister said.
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Number 10’s criticism of the retweets is thought to have contributed to the president’s decision not to visit London to open the new US embassy in January, which he claimed was because the property development was a “bad deal”.
Speculation of a breakdown in relations was fuelled by Mr Trump’s retweet last November shortly after Downing Street’s statement. “Theresa @theresamay, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!” he wrote.
Extending an olive branch, the president said discussions over a trade deal after Brexit would lead to “a tremendous increase in trade between our two countries that will be great for both in terms of jobs”. He added: “Trade will increase many times . . . We are starting that process pretty much as we speak.”
Mrs May said: “We face the same challenges across the world and we’re working together to beat those challenges and, alongside that, looking for a good trade relationship for the future which would be to the benefit of both of us.”
President Trump said that he and the prime minister were “on the same wavelength” and when asked about a state visit, Mrs May said it was under discussion and the US commander in chief agreed.
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President Trump arrived on Marine One, his official helicopter, to meet global leaders amid tight security at Davos.
The large US delegation is staying at Davos’s Intercontinental Hotel. A cavalcade of about ten cars with blacked-out windows navigated the narrow streets, watched by locals.
President Trump started his journey on Wednesday evening, taking off from Andrews Airforce Base in Maryland on Airforce One. A phalanx of helicopters landed at Zurich before the presidential plane. It was then on to the snowy Alpine resort of Davos by helicopter.
Mr Trump will deliver the closing keynote speech in Davos tomorrow. Several African business people have considered boycotting or even walking out of the event, in protest at his comment that many poor countries were “shitholes”.
Bonang Mohale, chief executive officer of Business Leadership South Africa, a Davos attendee, penned an open letter before the World Economic Forum meeting, urging people to turn their backs on the US president.
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“The overt racism of these statements is self-evident, and a stain on an office as august as yours,” he wrote. “Many of us will be boycotting your address to delegates at Davos in protest against your divisive comments and continued failure to unequivocally apologise. We encourage like-minded peers to do the same.” President Trump is set to meet Paul Kagame, President of Rwanda, in his role as incoming chairman of the African Union.
Lots of business leaders are set to miss President Trump’s speech in Davos because they will fly out of the Swiss ski resort before it takes place.
Some are leaving to meet engagements made before Mr Trump made his last minute decision to come to Davos, while others want to avoid the traffic snarl-ups and a security lock-down that is expected to put the snow-laden town into gridlock.