Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump. Picture: David Rose/Pool via REUTERS
Even before Air Force One landed on British soil, Trump praised the main leaders of Brexit — Johnson and Nigel Farage — and his advisers called on Britain’s next leader to block Huawei from the next-generation mobile phone technology. “We’ll have a very, very substantial trade deal, it’ll be a very fair deal, and I think it’s something we both want to do,” Trump told May at a meeting in St James Palace, a 500-year-old official residence of the monarch.
Ahead of the visit, Trump praised Johnson, saying he would make a “very good” prime minister, and advised a sharp exit from the EU on October 31 with or without a deal. Trump also called for arch-Brexiteer Farage, a scourge of May’s governing Conservative Party, to conduct talks with the EU.Brexit is the most significant geopolitical move for the UK since World War 2 and if it happens, London will be more reliant on the US as ties loosen with the other 27 members of the EU.
The Trump administration has told allies not to use Huawei’s 5G technology and equipment because it fears that would allow China to spy on sensitive communications and data. Huawei denies it is, or could be, a vehicle for Chinese intelligence.