U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May is in Washington to forge a new commercial relationship with the U.S. despite President Donald Trump's protectionist rhetoric. They are meeting privately today and will appear together at a new conference starting at 1 p.m. Join TOPLive for full coverage and analysis.
Welcome to the TOPLive blog for today's Donald Trump-Theresa May joint news conference, which is being held in the East Room of the White House. I'm Jennifer Epstein, a White House reporter for Bloomberg News, and I'll be anchoring our live coverage, feeding updates as the leaders speak.
Trump and May. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
It's Trump's first presser since being sworn in a week ago and he's sure to be asked about the moves he's taken this week. It's also a chance for both leaders to signal how they plan to enhance the U.S.-U.K. "special relationship." Each will start with an opening statement and then face two questioners from the British press and two questioners from the American press.
Among the topics that could come up: Trump's executive order on building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and the administration-floated proposal for a border tax; his suggestion that he might be open to the use of torture; and his plans for a weekend phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A lot is at stake for Theresa May on this visit. After criticizing Trump for his comments about Muslims, and being beaten by her British political rival Nigel Farage to the first meeting with Trump after his election, has fences to mend.
May has said she is going all-out for the closest possible relationship with the U.S., arguing this is how Britain’s interests are best served. The prime minister said she believed she could work with the president to forge a new commercial relationship despite his protectionist rhetoric.
“The U.K. and the U.S. have shared challenges, shared interests, that we can work together to deal with,” May told reporters before exiting her Royal Air Force plane yesterday. “We have a special relationship, it’s long standing, it’s existed through many different prime ministers and presidents. But I will also be very clear in the decisions I take and the conversations I have about U.K. interests.”
Officials from both governments have made clear that one major goal of May's visit to the White House and all the conversations taking place among staff around the trip is to begin laying the groundwork for a bilateral trade agreement that would take effect once the U.K. leaves the European Union, potentially in 2019. Trump was supportive of Brexit and anticipated during his campaign that his victory would be "Brexit-plus-plus-plus."
Optimism over President Donald Trump’s pro-growth policy, combined with better-than-expected corporate earnings have helped stocks break out of a month-long stasis. Meanwhile, U.S equity shorts have dropped to a three month low. We'll be watching to see if any mention of trade policy reinforces or turns around that trend.
OUR LATEST STORY ON THE MEETING: President Donald Trump took his first public step toward reshaping U.S. transatlantic ties by meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May in the Oval Office, where the two leaders are expected to discuss a new trade deal between their nations.
The U.K. current-account deficit has been widening. The difference between money coming into the U.K. and money sent out was 25.5 billion pounds ($31.3 billion) in the third quarter, that’s equal to 5.2 percent of gross domestic product.
The U.S. is performing slightly better on that front, with a current account deficit that has improved to 2.6 percent of GDP, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The White House says that Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto spoke by phone for an hour this morning. Expect that conversation to come up in the news conference.
"This is our first visit so great honor. The special relationship between our two countries has been one of the great" alliances in history, Trump says as he begins his opening statement, noting that his mother was born in Scotland.
There's been a lot of interest in the U.K. about how keen Trump will be to reach a free trade agreement with Brexit Britain. He's said he wants a quick deal but in reality the U.K. won't be legally free to sign anything until it leaves the EU.
So May deploys Queen Elizabeth II - announcing that Trump will come to the U.K. on formal state visit later this year. This is the highest honor Britain can offer a foreign head of state.
May clearly pleased to be able to push forward with those trade talks. It's the big item on her Brexit wish-list for trade with countries outside Europe.
Asked if he'll talk to Vladimir Putin about rolling back Russia sanctions "very early to be talking about that." May says E.U. sanctions will continue.
