Donald Trump will get his first shot at face-to-face diplomacy on Friday when he welcomes his first foreign visitor to the Oval Office, British Prime Minister Theresa May.
The new US president and the premier, who took office in July, both have strong political incentives to make the visit -- likely to be heavier on symbolism and aspiration than deliverables -- a roaring success.
The Prime Minister is telling Britons their country will be a robust global trading power once it has exited the European Union, and a free-trade pact with the US is the most important pillar of that plan.
Trump also has an interest in talking up a trade deal. The envisioned agreement with Britain is exactly the kind of bilateral pact that the Trump administration says is the model for US trade policy going forward.
With his White House being castigated for protectionist policies, a strong commitment to work towards such a deal would allow Trump to flesh out his point that he is not against all trade -- just big multi-national pacts that he deems punitive to the United States.
However, he previewed the visit by griping that Democrats have yet to confirm his commerce secretary pick, Wilbur Ross.
"I'm meeting with the Prime Minister tomorrow, as you know. Great Britain ... I don't have my commerce secretary -- they want to talk trade. So, I'll have to handle it myself. Which is okay," he told Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia on Thursday.
Trump also starts the meeting from May from a position of strength, given that he is granting her the honor of being his first foreign leader visit. But his need for a successful outcome became more acute on Thursday, when a spat with Mexico over his vow to build a border wall swiftly escalated and caused the cancellation of a visit to the White House next week by President Enrique Peña Nieto.
'Special relationship'
May is getting time in the office unusually early after a presidential inauguration.
Former President Barack Obama chose then-Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso as his first guest, a month after he was inaugurated. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown was his second guest but their summit -- remembered mostly for its awkward body language and other distractions -- didn't take place until March.
SOURCE: CNN
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