(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Donald Trump says he will meet with U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May in the spring as the British leader tries to ease a frosty start to their relationship and expand ties with the U.S. after her country withdraws from the European Union.
“I look very much forward to meeting Prime Minister Theresa May in Washington in the Spring. Britain, a longtime U.S. ally, is very special!” Trump said on Twitter.
May, who has spoken to the incoming president twice by phone, is seeking to build bridges after she and her predecessor David Cameron made critical comments about him before his election. She sent her two most senior aides on a secret trip to the U.S. in mid-December to meet members of his team and said she wants to develop links between the two countries.
“The special relationship we have with the United States is an important relationship in terms of security and stability around the world,” May said in an interview Sunday on Sky News. “The conversations I've had, I think we're going to look to build on that relationship for the benefit of both the United States and the U.K. and I think that's something that's optimistic and positive for the U.K. for the future.”
May is attempting to recover lost ground after she was outflanked by her political rival Nigel Farage, the former U.K. Independence Party leader, who met Trump within days of his victory in November. She rejected Trump's controversial suggestion that Farage -- who is close to key members of the president-elect's team -- should be made U.K. ambassador in Washington.
In December 2015, May -- then Britain's home secretary -- criticized Trump's proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S. as “divisive, unhelpful and wrong.”
Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, the premier's joint chiefs of staff who traveled to Washington last month, also had to build bridges of their own. Before they took up posts in May's new government in July, Timothy said on Twitter that he did not want “any ‘reaching out' to Trump,” while Hill tweeted: “Donald Trump is a chump.”
Building Links
May stressed the importance she places on building links with the new White House as the U.K. seeks to expand trade with the U.S. after it withdraws from the European Union.
U.K. officials are said to be concerned by their poor links with the incoming U.S. administration as Britain develops post-Brexit plans. There are signs Trump, who has a Scottish mother, may be a willing partner. Whereas Obama said Britain would be “at the back of the queue” to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with the U.S., Trump told Farage Britain would be “at the front.”
During the Sky News interview, May was asked to comment on a recording of Trump from 2005 in which he said he likes to grab women “by the pussy.” She replied that the words used were “unacceptable,” though said that Trump has since apologized for using them.
“I think that's unacceptable, but in fact Donald Trump himself has said that and has apologized for it,” May said in response. “But the relationship that the U.K. has with the U.S. is about something much bigger than just the relationship between the two individuals as president and prime minister. It's a relationship where actually in the U.K. we feel we can say to the U.S. if we disagree with something that they are doing.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.net, John McCluskey in Sydney at j.mccluskey@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bret Okeson at bokeson@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Andrew J. Barden
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