On Sunday, the British Foreign Affairs Minister Boris Johnson called on the United Kingdom to welcome a visit from the American President Donald Trump. He said opposing a visit from Trump could be harmful to national interests.
The day before his American counterpart Rex Tillerson arrived in Britain for discussions, Mr Johnson said delaying a visit from Mr Trump could damage the UK’s “most extraordinary economic relationship”.
“Donald Trump is the elected President of the biggest and most powerful democracy in the world – a country that is also our closest ally”, Mr Johnson wrote in the British newspaper The Sunday Times.
He said that anyone who is against a visit from Mr Trump isn’t aware of the British economic interest at stake.
He thinks “our country opposing a visit from the President of the United States could affect national interests”.
Mr Johnson also rejected accusations that Trump is leading a ‘isolationist America”. He thinks the Trump administration deserves “respect and recognition” instead of “infantile belittling”.
The President cancelled a planned visit to open the new US Embassy in London in the middle of January. There was a possibility he would be greeted by hostile protests.
He justified the cancellation by criticising the location of the new embassy, which was chosen by the administration of his predecessor Barack Obama. However his visit was likely to cause a series of protests at a time when there is already tension between the two historic allies.
British celebrities, including London mayor Sadiq Khan, said they were against a visit from Mr Trump.
The Brussels Times
