MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK and US must “lead together”, says Theresa May before meeting with Trump

PM May's two-day trip begins this Thursday with a speech to the Republicans' annual Congressional retreat in Philadelphia.

Prime Minister Theresa May says Britain and the United States should “lead together” in the world, as she travels to meet President Donald Trump in Washington. May is due to meet Trump at the White House on Friday, the president's first face-to-face meeting with a world leader.

 Her two-day trip begins Thursday with a speech to the Republicans' annual Congressional retreat in Philadelphia. May plans to say that the trans-Atlantic relationship “made the modern world” and built the institutions that underpin the global order.

May's office says she'll link Britain's vote to leave the European Union with U.S. voters' election of the political outsider Trump. She will say “as you renew your nation just as we renew ours” there's an opportunity “to renew the special relationship for this new age.

The visit has been presented as a diplomatic coup in Britain, where the idea of the ”special relationship“ still holds strong, and is being closely watched in Washington as Trump's foreign policy takes shape.

Trump has offered rare support for Brexit among global leaders, seeing parallels with his own election campaign, and saying Britain was ”smart“ to vote to leave an EU that he believes is now falling apart.

He has also pledged to move quickly on agreeing a trade deal with London -- welcome words for May, who last week conceded publicly for the first time that Britain would be leaving Europe's single market.

”I'm pleased that I'm able to meet President Trump so early in his administration. That is a sign of the strength of the special relationship,“ May told parliament on Wednesday.

But analysts note that Trump's protectionist ”America First“ rhetoric appears at odds with May's promise to turn Britain into a free trade champion.

”There is a national sympathy from Trump to this country because of Brexit,“ said Stephen Burman, professor of American politics at the University of Sussex. ”But to me, 'America First' and a 'Global Britain' are practically contradictory statements. That's not going to change because of a trip“.

There is also the uncomfortable issue of Trump's comments about women, some of which he has apologized for.

”Whenever there is something that I find unacceptable, I will say that to Donald Trump,“ May, Britain's second female prime minister, following Margaret Thatcher, told the BBC.

Asked about the issue in parliament, she said: ”I am not afraid to speak frankly to a president of the United States“.

Trump's reference to the US-led NATO military alliance as ”obsolete” has also caused alarm across the Atlantic. Britain's close ties with the United States are a cornerstone of its foreign policy, along with the commitment to NATO.

May spoke on Sunday to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and promised to reiterate to Trump the alliance's role as the bulwark of Western defense.