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On Day 2, President Trump gets to work.
Mr. Trump arrived in Britain on Monday for a welcome full of pageantry: an 82-gun salute at Buckingham Palace, a look at a collection of gifts with Queen Elizabeth II and a lavish banquet with members of the royal family.
On Tuesday, Mr. Trump’s schedule contains less pomp and more work.
He attended a business round table at St. James’s Palace in the morning, and later met with Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain at her office at 10 Downing Street.
Mrs. May and her husband, Philip May, greeted Mr. Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, as they left their limousine. The couples posed for pictures before the familiar backdrop of No. 10, with Mr. Trump and Mrs. May making small talk.
Among those who trailed the president into the prime minister’s residence were his daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, both of whom are advisers to the president. Mr. Trump and Mrs. May are scheduled to hold a joint news conference later in the afternoon, and in the evening there will be a reception at the American ambassador’s residence.
Mr. Trump and Mrs. May are expected to discuss issues of security and trade, especially in the context of Brexit, with Britain hoping to strike a bilateral trade deal with the United States after leaving the European Union. It remains unclear what progress the two leaders might make, however, since Mrs. May is in the last days of her tenure in office, having agreed to step down as the leader of the Conservative Party after failing for almost three years to deliver Britain’s withdrawal.
The president has criticized Mrs. May’s approach to Brexit before, and he has repeatedly praised the leading candidate to replace her, Boris Johnson. Before arriving in London, Mr. Trump suggested that he might meet with Mr. Johnson, the former foreign minister, calling him “a friend of mine.” He also suggested that he might meet with Nigel Farage, the leader of a pro-Brexit party.
“They’re two very good guys, very interesting people,” Mr. Trump told reporters last week.
Mr. Trump sees potential for a “substantial trade deal.”
President Trump attended a business round table at St. James’s Palace, alongside Prime Minister Theresa May, business leaders from both countries, and his daughter Ivanka Trump.
At the start of the meeting, Mr. Trump praised Mrs. May and said that Britain and the United States would come to an agreement on trade.
Mr. Trump said that Britain is the United States’ biggest trade partner, a fact he then claimed that many people do not know. (China was actually the United States’ largest trading partner in 2018. Britain was No. 7.)
“I think we’ll have a very substantial trade deal,” Mr. Trump said.
Speaking to Mrs. May, who was seated across from him, he said, to laughter, “I don’t know exactly what your timing is, but stick around, let’s do this deal.”
But the reality of negotiating such a deal is much more complicated, with the future leader of Britain unclear and the practicalities of the country’s withdrawal from the European Union unsettled.
Brexit supporters see a potential trade deal with the United States as one of the prizes of a complete break with the European Union, but such a pact could be contentious. Some worry that letting in American products would force Britain to lower its food and agricultural standards.
The possibility of chlorine-washed chickens from the United States has emerged as a symbol of British concerns about a post-Brexit trade deal.
Protesters have vowed to bring London to a standstill.
A giant orange balloon of President Trump, depicted as a scowling baby wearing a diaper, was released over Parliament Square in London on Tuesday, kicking off a day of demonstrations against the president’s state visit.
The same large balloon was the focal point of protests that broke out during Mr. Trump’s working visit last July, his first trip to Britain in office.
Mr. Trump is unpopular around Britain, and especially in London. He has feuded with the city’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, since 2016 over immigration, terrorism and other issues, and on Monday he belittled the mayor again, accusing him of being “nasty” and mocking his stature.
The main protest kicked off at Trafalgar Square as large crowds gathered around a robot depicting Mr. Trump tweeting on a golden toilet.
Large crowds began to gather in central London at 11 a.m. and started marching toward Downing Street, where Mr. Trump was meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May.
The demonstrators have vowed to disrupt every stage of Mr. Trump’s visit by bringing central London to a standstill. Last year, Mr. Trump largely avoided the city and the protests that erupted there.
Though the crowds appeared much smaller than the demonstration that drew tens of thousands of people during the president’s visit last year, Trafalgar Square overflowed with groups from across the country who said they opposed Mr. Trump’s policies.
“Trump and his racist, divisive policies are not welcome in our country,” said Amy Hunter, one protester.
“Stop Racism, Stop Trump,” one placard read. “Climate change is real, your tan is not,” read another. Some groups wore caps emblazoned with spin on the president’s campaign slogan: “Make America Great Again. Impeach Me.”
“It is so embarrassing that our government has invited this fascist buffoon back to our country and is giving him royal treatment, pulling out the red carpet and wining and dining him with our tax money,” said Ruby Lawson, 38.
“We want to show the world and Trump that this is not O.K. and Trump is not welcome.”
Adam Bruce, 24, said he was worried about how Mr. Trump could influence Britain’s plans to leave the European Union.
“We are at the cliff’s edge, there is no leadership right now, we are more vulnerable than ever,” he said. “And Trump could influence which way we go in this whole Brexit mess.”
London’s mayor punches back (again) at Mr. Trump.
The long-running feud between President Trump and Mayor Sadiq Khan showed no signs of abating on Tuesday.
Mr. Khan, in an interview with Sky News, denounced the American president, describing him as “the poster boy for the far-right movement around the world,” a day after Mr. Trump called the mayor a “stone cold loser” as he arrived in London.
“We disagree with him surely about his policy to ban Muslims from certain countries,” Mr. Khan said, “surely we disagree with his policy to separate children from their parents on the Mexican border, surely we think it’s wrong when he amplifies the tweets from racists in this country.”
Mr. Khan also criticized the British leadership for failing to stand up to Mr. Trump, in particular pointing to the administration’s policies on climate change.
“My point is, Theresa May is so weak as a prime minister and our government is so scared that it wouldn’t say boo to a goose, and I think that’s wrong,” said Mr. Khan, who is a member of the opposition Labour Party.
Mike Pompeo joins the president’s entourage.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joined the Trump entourage Tuesday morning, overlapping with the president on the final leg of his own European trip, which began in Berlin last week. He attended a meeting with business leaders at St. James’s Palace and then accompanied President Trump to 10 Downing Street.
Mr. Pompeo is the cabinet official who most vocally supports Mr. Trump’s policies and worldview, and so he travels the world to try to turn Mr. Trump’s disparate and often inchoate public musings into reality.
Such was the case last Friday in Berlin, where Mr. Pompeo met with Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss sensitive issues like Afghanistan, Iran and Ukraine.
In Switzerland, which acts as a conduit between Washington and Tehran, Mr. Pompeo talked with Swiss officials about American efforts to confront Iran. But he sent mixed signals in public proclamations about whether the Trump administration intended to soften or harden its approach. Mr. Trump has said he wants to avoid war with Iran, but Mr. Pompeo and John R. Bolton, the hawkish national security adviser, have pressed him to take a forceful position with the aim of rolling back Iranian influence across the Middle East.
On Monday, at a conference of international entrepreneurs in The Hague, Mr. Pompeo denounced China’s economic policies and repeated the Trump administration’s concerns about allowing Huawei and other Chinese firms to build next-generation 5G communications networks.
“China wants to be the dominant economic and military power of the world, spreading its authoritarian vision for society and its corrupt practices worldwide,” Mr. Pompeo said.
Mr. Trump and Mrs. May are expected to discuss Huawei and China.
When Prime Minister Theresa May and President Trump meet on Tuesday, they are widely expected to discuss Huawei, the Chinese company whose 5G technology has been the subject of warnings from Washington to its allies about what it considers to be serious security risks.
Britain’s foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, seemed to expect as much during an interview with the BBC on Monday. As he was waiting for Air Force One to land, Mr. Hunt said he and others were sensitive to Washington’s concerns. “We take careful notice of everything the U.S. says on these issues,” he said.
The Pentagon and American intelligence officials have warned allies that Huawei, which has been lobbying to build the next-generation network, could intercept or secretly divert secure messages to China. They have also warned that Huawei, because of the relationship between the authorities and businesses in China, could be ordered to shut down the networks during any conflict.
Last month, the Trump administration placed the company and dozens of affiliates on a list of firms deemed a risk to national security, a move that prevents it from buying American parts or technologies without first receiving approval from the United States government.
It also issued a separate order barring American telecom companies from using foreign-made equipment that could pose a threat to national security. Without naming Huawei, it meant Huawei.
Mr. Hunt was giving no hint about which way Britain would go. “We haven’t made our final decision,” he said. “But we have also made it clear that we are considering both the technical issues — how you make sure there isn’t a backdoor so that a third country could use 5G to spy on us — but also the strategic issues so that you make sure that you are not technologically overdependent on a third country for absolutely vital technology.”
What do you give to the family that has everything?
The Trumps exchanged a series of symbolic gifts with members of the royal family at Buckingham Palace on Monday. It was a day full of pageantry and pomp, in a nod to the shared history of Britain and the United States.
President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, gave the queen a silver and silk poppy brooch from Tiffany & Co. in a custom jewelry box, according to a spokeswoman for Mrs. Trump. The red flower has come to be a symbol of the sacrifices of war.
The pair also gave Prince Philip — an aviation enthusiast — a personalized Air Force One jacket and a signed, first-edition copy of James Doolittle’s autobiography “I Could Never Be So Lucky Again.” An aviation pioneer, Mr. Doolittle led the daylight air raid on Tokyo and other Japanese cities during World War II.
The queen gave Mrs. Trump a specially commissioned silver box with a handcrafted enamel lid.
Her gift to Mr. Trump was a first edition of “The Second World War” by Winston Churchill from 1959. World War II has been a theme throughout the visit as the leaders prepare to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
But if anyone expected the gifts to be memorable ones, they might be in for a reality check.
During a tour through Buckingham Palace on Monday, the queen had on display some of the gifts that Mr. Trump gave her during his 2018 visit, including a pewter horse statuette. Mr. Trump said he did not recognize it, according to royal reporter Emily Andrews who was at the event.
Mrs. Trump then pointed out that they had given the statuette to the queen.
Maggie Haberman, Mark Landler, Ceylan Yeginsu, Megan Specia, Michael Wolgelenter, Alan Yuhas and Christine Spolar contributed reporting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/world/europe/trump-uk-visit.html
2019-06-04 12:38:52Z
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