Boris Johnson has met Donald Trump for the first time as PM at the G7 summit in France.
The US President said that he believes Mr Johnson is the ‘right man for the job’ and that ‘we will have a very big trade deal with the UK’.
A joint statement released by the two leaders said that they ‘celebrated the enduring special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom, and reaffirmed the value of transatlantic partnership.’
“The President and the Prime Minister noted the unique depth of the security and defence partnership between the two countries, and the benefits it brings to each. They committed to increasing the co-operation between the two sovereign nations.
“President Trump and Prime Minister Johnson also discussed how the United Kingdom leaving the European Union presents many opportunities for deepening our already robust economic and commercial relationship, including a comprehensive trade agreement.
“The leaders acknowledged the importance of free, fair and reciprocal trade, and discussed opportunities for deepening our trading relationship in the future based on mutual respect for these principles.
“The President and Prime Minister also discussed the important role of investment in our respective economies and noted American investment in the United Kingdom is responsible for more than one million British jobs and British investment in the United States is responsible for more than one million American jobs.”
The meeting at the G7 summit came just over two months before the UK is expected to leave the European Union on October 31.
Boris Johnson is also expected to meet with EU Council President Donald Tusk later on Sunday at the summit, where it is thought he will tell him the UK will not pay the full £39bn Brexit divorce bill in the event of a no-deal. Ahead of the meeting, Mr Tusk has tweeted;
Tomorrow I meet PM @BorisJohnson. I hope that he will not like to go down in history as “Mr. No Deal”. The EU is ready to listen to operational, realistic ideas acceptable to all Member States including Ireland, if and when the UK government is ready to put them on the table.
A no-deal Brexit now appears to be an increasing likelihood, with neither sides of negotiations looking likely to budge on red lines. Earlier this week, French President Emmanuel Macron told Mr Johnson that the Irish backstop is “indispensable” to a Brexit deal and urged the PM to set out proposed alternatives.
Photo Credit: EU2017EE Estonian Presidency via Flickr under licence (CC BY 2.0)
