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| Theresa May to visit Donald Trump 'in the spring' | |
| (about 13 hours later) | |
| Theresa May is to visit US President-elect Donald Trump in the spring, Downing Street has said. | Theresa May is to visit US President-elect Donald Trump in the spring, Downing Street has said. |
| In December the PM's joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, travelled to the US to build links with the incoming president's team. | In December the PM's joint chiefs of staff, Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill, travelled to the US to build links with the incoming president's team. |
| A source said Mrs May "looks forward to visiting the new president in the spring". | A source said Mrs May "looks forward to visiting the new president in the spring". |
| The meeting is expected to take place at the White House and could be as early as next month, it is understood. | The meeting is expected to take place at the White House and could be as early as next month, it is understood. |
| The December trip by Mrs May's closest aides was part of efforts to build a relationship with Mr Trump ahead of his inauguration on 20 January. | The December trip by Mrs May's closest aides was part of efforts to build a relationship with Mr Trump ahead of his inauguration on 20 January. |
| The president-elect first invited the prime minister to visit in a phone call shortly after his election victory in November. | |
| It had been expected that she would visit Washington in the early months of 2017. | It had been expected that she would visit Washington in the early months of 2017. |
| 'Almost impossible' | |
| Transport Secretary Chris Grayling told Sky News that there was nothing out of the ordinary about what was happening. | |
| "You would expect a meeting between the new US president and our prime minister relatively soon after he takes office and that is what is happening," he said. | |
| Former UKIP leader Nigel Farage was the first British politician to meet Mr Trump after his election victory - meeting him in his Trump Tower residence in New York. | |
| Mr Farage, who appeared with Mr Trump during the election campaign, suggested that Mrs May's advisers had not met key players in the president-elect's team. | |
| "I think it's almost impossible that they could have got into Trump Tower, somebody would have recognised that photograph," he told LBC Radio. | |
| "It sounds to me like they went to Washington, they might have met either the existing State Department or perhaps some of Trump's transition team down there." | |
| Mrs May and other ministers have been critical of Mr Trump in the past, attacking his call at the start of the Republican primary campaign for a ban on Muslims entering the US. | |
| But Britain's ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darroch, has suggested that the so-called "special relationship" between the two countries will continue and that Mrs May and Mr Trump will "build on the legacy" of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. | |
| Mr Trump has strong business links with the United Kingdom and, during the summer, signalled his support for the UK's decision to leave the EU. | |
| Earlier this year, current US President Barack Obama suggested the UK would be "at the back of the queue" for negotiating a free trade deal with the US in the event of Brexit. |