An old friendship with new facets as Theresa visits Trump

British prime minister balances need for enhanced trade ties post Brexit with reservations over new US president's policies.

US president Donald Trump welcomes British prime minister Theresa May to the West Wing of the White House on January 27, 2017. Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

British prime minister Theresa May on Friday became the first foreign leader to meet America’s controversial and unpredictable new US president, telling reporters in advance: “Sometimes opposites attract.”

Coming only a week after Mr Trump took office, the meeting indicates Mrs May’s eagerness to build on Britain’s historical “special relationship” with the United States to boost transatlantic trade and economic cooperation as she steers the UK out of the European Union.

The two countries still “have a joint responsibility to lead”, she said a day earlier, although the way in which they do so would have to change.

However, the two leaders have held divergent views on a number of issues including Russia, the Nato military alliance, the use of torture and the nuclear deal with Iran, and some fence-mending was needed after Mrs May’s past criticisms of Mr Trump.

During his election campaign, she said his misogynist remarks were “unacceptable”. When he claimed in 2015 that radical Islamists had turned sections of London into “no-go zones”, Mrs May, then home secretary, said he was “plain wrong”.

Now that he is leader of the world’s most powerful nation Mrs May has had to recalibrate her approach.

“Brexit means that the UK does have to stretch out to the rest of the world in a manner that it hasn’t done for many decades, particularly on trade,” said Craig McAngus, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Aberdeen. “Also, May has to show the British public that Brexit can be a success. Reaching out to the US and perhaps coming to some sort of deal would be evidence that the UK can negotiate its post-Brexit status.”

The US is the UK’s second-largest trade partner after Germany. In 2015, bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $186 billion (Dh683bn) and the US is also the largest source of foreign investment in Britain.

But Mrs May’s desire to negotiate a massive free-trade deal with the US could be hampered by Mr Trump’s avowed scepticism of such agreements, and his belief that protectionism will benefit American workers and consumers. “The UK is far more supportive of free trade than Trump is,” Mr McAngus said.

Drawing closer to the US also means grappling with some of Mr Trump’s contentious foreign policy objectives. Although he appeared to backtrack on Friday, he has repeatedly said that Nato was “obsolete” and cost the US too much money while other members did not pay their share.

Mr Trump has also been planning to pivot American foreign policy towards Russia and has often expressed admiration for president Vladimir Putin – a view which makes Mrs May uncomfortable.

Over the past two decades, “countries with little tradition of democracy, liberty and human rights – notably China and Russia – have grown more assertive in world affairs”, she said in Philadelphia on Thursday.

“With president Putin, my advice is to ‘engage but beware’ … We should not jeopardise the freedoms that [former US president Ronald] Reagan and [former British prime minister Margaret] Thatcher brought to Eastern Europe by accepting president Putin’s claim that it is now in his sphere of influence.”

Mrs May also stresses the gains from the Iran nuclear deal – which she called “vitally important for regional security” but which Mr Trump has insisted should be scrapped because it benefited Iran more than the US.

At home, Mrs May faces pressure to reject Mr Trump’s advocacy of torture in the fight against terrorism. In parliament, members of her own Conservative party have sought assurances from her that she will make clear to Mr Trump “that under no circumstances will she permit Britain to be dragged into facilitating that torture, as we were after September the 11th”.

Mrs May replied, “We have a very clear position on torture. We do not sanction torture, we do not get involved with that and that will continue to be our position.” But she made no promises to say so to her host in the White House.