The White House re-embraced the United States’ ‘special relationship’ with the United Kingdom on Tuesday as it deflected from disagreements between the two countries’ leaders over critical issues.
Trump unexpectedly called off a trip to London this month and his visit has not been rescheduled. The White House said this afternoon that he would meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May in Switzerland on Thursday at the World Economic Conference.
National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster said that Trump was ‘prioritizing his meeting with Prime Minister May because we do have a special relationship’ in a briefing with reporters that served as a preview of the trip.
‘It’s a special relationship not only in words but it’s how we work together really on every issue,’ McMaster asserted. ‘It is very, very hard to find any place where our interests don’t overlap almost completely with those of the United Kingdom.’
The White House re-embraced the United States’ ‘special relationship’ with the United Kingdom on Tuesday as it deflected from disagreements between the two countries’ leaders over critical issues
The White House official claimed that the U.S. and the U.K ‘are working together in a very effective manner’ at the United Nations on those issues but also ‘bilaterally, and so the president will talk about those key topics of mutual concern.’
Without expounding on the topic, he said, ‘You can imagine what those are.
‘And so that we have seen, there [is] obviously no diminishment, only growth and strength of relationship and cooperation with a great ally.’
McMaster said in an opening statement that Trump and May would discuss conflicts with Syria, Iran and North Korea.
He left out any mention of their dispute over Trump’s announcement that he would move the United States’ embassy in Israel to Jerusalem or any references to international terrorism, another topic that has driven a wedge between them.
The army officer indicated that May would be Trump’s first meeting after arriving in Davos, where he is also due to have bilateral talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and President Alain Berset of Switzerland.
McMaster glided past a suggestion that the U.S. and the U.K. are on the outs over Trump’s trip cancellation, which the president and his secretary of state have provided to two very different reasons for.
Trump had been expected by U.K. officials to travel to London in February until he pulled the rug out from under them.
Trump said in a tweet earlier this month that he was refusing to cut the ribbon on the United States’ newly opened embassy in London next month because he didn’t appreciate being saddled with a bad deal by his predecessor.
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson claimed last Wednesday that the indefinite delay was tied to the political turmoil in Britain over Brexit.
‘As you know, President Trump was supportive of the U.K.’s exit from the EU, he still thinks that was the right decision for them,’ Tillerson said. ‘Britain needs to focus on those Brexit negotiations right now, which is really important to them, and I think the president realizes that’s where Prime Minister May really needs to focus her attention.’
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stopped by the new U.S. embassy in London this week on a trip to the U.S. after side-stepping a question about Trump deriding its location last week
Tillerson said, ‘Britain needs to focus on those Brexit negotiations right now, which is really important to them, and I think the president realizes that’s where Prime Minister May really needs to focus her attention.’
May was the first world leader to visit Trump at the White House last year after he was inaugurated. In a nod to the ‘special relationship’ that the U.S. and the U.K. have, she paid her respects to Trump his first full week in office.
She extended an invitation then for Trump to visit Britain. The expectation was that it would be fulfilled last year. The trip has been repeatedly postponed, though, even as Trump visited 13 other nations.
In a Dec. 19 call, the leaders said they ‘looked forward to keeping in close touch’ after wishing each other a Merry Christmas, a statement from Downing Street said.
The readout did not mention an upcoming visit, however, Trump was anticipated by Downing Street to accept an invitation to travel to London for talks with May at No 10 on February 26 and 27.
The dates were rejected by the U.S., though, and Trump provided a very public explanation.
He blasted former President Barack Obama for selling the old site on Grosvenor Square in London’s Mayfair district.
‘Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars,’ Trump wrote. ‘Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!’
The decision to move the embassy was actually made by George W. Bush’s administration. Officials said at the time that it wasn’t possibly to retrofit the existing facility to meet modern security standards and that a move was necessary.
‘In the end, we realized that the goal of a modern, secure and environmentally sustainable embassy could best be met by constructing a new facility,’ former U.S. ambassador Robert Tuttle said.
The new embassy, on property the U.S. owns outright, unlike the plot of land that hosted the previous embassy, is located at Nine Elms, south of the River Thames.
Trump took to Twitter Thursday saying the ‘real’ reason why he canceled was because the Obama administration ‘sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London’
The United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square, London, UK is pictured is this undated photo
Exterior view of the new United States Embassy in London, England is shown on December 15, 2017. At a cost of over £750 million, the new embassy is the most expensive in the world
Tillerson stopped by the embassy this week on a trip to London after side-stepping a question about Trump deriding its location.
‘That’s a decision that’s already been taken, so I don’t think we need to revisit it,’ he told reporters prior to the trip.
Number 10 said after Tilleron’s remarks about Brexit that Trump had already explained the reason for the cancellation. A Downing Street spokesman said, ‘The president himself set out some of the reasons when he tweeted.’
A new date for the visit that the U.K declined to rescind after confrontations between Trump and May – as well as the U.S. president and Muslim mayor of London Sadiq Khan – has not been set.
Trump antagonized Khan, who opposes the Republican president’s travel ban, on Twitter last summer ‘pathetic’ excuses in the wake of a London terror attack.
Khan hit back at Trump in November, after the U.S. president retweeted anti-Muslim propoganda from a far-right U.K. group, saying it ‘increasingly clear that any official visit at all from President Trump to Britain would not be welcomed.’
The British government said an invitation to visit had already been extended and accepted.
Rebuking Trump, though, May said, ‘I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do.’
Trump slapped back at her in a tweet that said, ‘Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom.’ He added: ‘We are doing just fine!’
Trump and May have otherwise clashed over the sitting president’s decision to move a different U.S. embassy – the one in Israel – to a politically fraught location.
May said that Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel was ‘unhelpful in terms of prospects for peace in the region’ prior to her call with Trump in December, in which Downing Street says they discussed Trump’s embassy relocation announcement.
They also talked about Brexit during the call, readouts from both governments said.
The prospect of mass protests during a Trump visit to the U.K. has loomed large for months. The White House said last year after a report claimed the potential for demonstrations was keeping him away that Trump intended accept the queen’s gracious offer for him to visit.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn urged his followers last month to turn out in force Trump did visit the U.Sl to send him a ‘clear message’. More than a million people signed a petition last year calling for the state visit to be cancelled.
Disinvited: Ed Miliband, former leader of the Labour party – currently the UK’s second biggest party – tweeted that Trump was not wanted in London and that the President knew this
Is Trump right to call it a ‘bad deal’? Property experts say the US have ‘sold the family silver’ after selling the old embassy for $680m and buying new one for $1bn
As a New York real estate mogul and high-end hotel owner, Donald Trump should be speaking from a position of experience when he calls the new US Embassy a ‘bad deal’.
The President claimed ‘the Obama Administration sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal.’
At a cost of $1bn (£750m) the new embassy near Battersea is priced significantly higher than the $680m (£500m) it is thought the old embassy in Mayfair was sold for.
In with the new: The new US Embassy in Nine Elms, in south London, which is due to open for business on January 16
Standing in London’s Grosvenor Square, it was bought by Qatari Diar – the property development arm of the Qatari royal family – for an undisclosed sum in 2009.
At the time, experts had valued the site at £500m.
It may never be known how much it was actually sold for because the US sold the lease not the land – which is owned by the Duke of Westminster. The details do not need to recorded with the Land Registry.
Shortly before the sale, the old embassy was given Grade II listed status, which may have reduced the value further as this would restrict any development.
The Qataris will now spend $1.4bn (£1.08bn) to refurbish the building and turn it into a five-star Rosewood hotel with 137 bedrooms.
The new US Embassy is a cube-shaped building, located in Nine Elms between Vauxhall and Battersea in south-west London.
Christian Warman, director of central London estate agency Tedworth Property, states that US may have ‘sold the family silver’ – but that they had sold high and bought low.
‘Grosvenor Square is one of London’s finest addresses and the embassy was very prominent and hugely well connected to businesses and professionals who live and work in the area,’ Mr Warman told MailOnline.
‘In terms of whether the Americans have sold the family silver; yes Mayfair is always going to be a prime hub of London, but it’s not unthinkable that Nine Elms will be considered prime central London in ten, 20 or 50 years, so you could argue that it’s a good deal for America.