Washington – British Prime Minister Theresa May is to be the first foreign leader to meet newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump in a White House visit on Friday.
May, who arrived on Thursday in the United States, is calling for renewed cooperation between London and Washington, at a time when Britain is in the process of quitting the European Union and the right-wing populist Trump's new government is questioning longstanding US policies on trade, diplomacy and multilateralism.
May and Trump are slated to meet and hold a joint press conference followed by a working lunch.
In an address Thursday in Philadelphia to members of Trump's conservative Republican Party faction in Congress, where they hold majorities in both chambers, May said that the world is "passing through a period of change."
The US and Britain can be passive bystanders "or we can take the opportunity once more to lead and to lead together," she said.
"As we rediscover our confidence together, as you renew your nation just as we renew ours, we have the opportunity, indeed the responsibility, to renew the special relationship for this new age," May said.
Trump is seeking to cancel or renegotiate existing US multilateral trade agreements but has voiced interest in bilateral trade deals, specifically including Britain post-Brexit.