FOREIGN POLICY/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UK: “President Donald Trump on Thursday [1-25-18] talked up the strength of the U.S.’s relationship with the U.K. after meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May, despite a spell of strained relations between the two allies.
Mrs. May and Mr. Trump met in Davos, Switzerland, in their first face-to-face discussions since the U.S. president abruptly called off a planned trip to London earlier this month. Sitting beside Mrs. May, Mr. Trump said tensions in the relationship between the two nations were a ‘false rumor.’… Mrs. May said they ‘that really special relationship between the U.K. and the United States’ would continue.
The meeting has put Mrs. May in a tight spot. She needs Mr. Trump’s support as the U.K. leaves the European Union and seeks to build economic relations with the U.S. But she also has publicly admonished him and sought to avoid the political fallout of appearing too close to a leader who is unpopular among many in her home country, including within her Conservative Party…
Mr. Trump was one of the few world leaders to support Brexit, and Mrs. May wants to secure a quick and favorable trade deal with the U.S. to show that Britain can make up for the costs of leaving the bloc’s free-trade zone.”
-Jenny Gross, “Trump, U.K.’s May Deny Strains in Ties at Davos Meeting,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 25, 2018 11:15am