LONDON: US President Donald Trump has invited British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to visit him in the White House in the new year, British media reported on Sunday.
Trump’s invitation was made after the British prime minister’s election win this month, The Sunday Times newspaper reported. Britain wants to strike a new trade deal with the United States after it leaves the European Union at the end of January.
“Some potential dates have been floated in mid-January but nothing has yet been formally agreed. But it is clear that both sides want to make it happen some time in early 2020,” the Sunday Times quoted a source close to the White House as saying.
Johnson is reluctant to make the visit before delivering Brexit on Jan. 31 and would prefer to go after a cabinet reshuffle scheduled in February, when he is expected to appoint cabinet office minister Michael Gove as his new trade negotiator, The Mail on Sunday reported.
That could allow Johnson to take Gove on the US visit ahead of talks of a post-Brexit trade deal, according to the report.
Some Downing Street insiders, however, have concerns about a visit by Johnson due to fears the prime minister could be dragged into Trump’s ongoing impeachment proceedings, the Sunday Times reported.
Johnson won approval for his Brexit deal in the British parliament on Friday, the first step toward fulfilling his election pledge to deliver Britain’s departure from the European Union by Jan. 31.
As Britain prepares to leave the bloc, Johnson and Trump agreed in a phone call last Monday to pursue an “ambitious” UK-US free trade agreement.
After Johnson’s election win on Dec. 12, Trump had said Britain and the United States were now free to strike a “massive” new trade deal after Brexit.
“This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the EU,” Trump had said in a tweet earlier this month.
The White House and Downing Street did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the reported invitation to Johnson.
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Trump invites UK’s Johnson to White House in new year
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Trump invites UK’s Johnson to White House in new year
- Trump’s invitation was made after the British prime minister’s election win this month, The Sunday Times newspaper reported
- Johnson won approval for his Brexit deal in the British parliament on Friday
Australian warship transits Taiwan Strait, tracked by China’s navy
- The Toowoomba ‘conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait’
- ‘All interactions with foreign ships and aircraft were safe and professional’
SYDNEY: An Australian warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, a government source said on Sunday in the latest transit of the sensitive waterway by a US ally, which Chinese state-backed media said was tracked and monitored by the nation’s military.
In addition to claiming sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, Beijing views the narrow, highly strategic strait as Chinese territorial waters and has responded aggressively on occasion to foreign navies sailing there.
The Toowoomba, an Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy, “conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait” on Friday and Saturday as part of a “Regional Presence Deployment in the Indo-Pacific region,” the source said.
“All interactions with foreign ships and aircraft were safe and professional,” the source said.
China’s state-backed Global Times newspaper, citing an unnamed Chinese military source, reported late on Saturday that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army carried out full-process tracking, monitoring, and alert operations throughout the transit.”
US warships traverse the strait every few months, enraging Beijing, and some US allies, such as France, Australia, Britain and Canada, have also made occasional transits.
China has ramped up its military presence around Taiwan and staged its latest war games around the island in late December.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
In addition to claiming sovereignty over democratically governed Taiwan, Beijing views the narrow, highly strategic strait as Chinese territorial waters and has responded aggressively on occasion to foreign navies sailing there.
The Toowoomba, an Anzac-class frigate of the Royal Australian Navy, “conducted a routine transit through the Taiwan Strait” on Friday and Saturday as part of a “Regional Presence Deployment in the Indo-Pacific region,” the source said.
“All interactions with foreign ships and aircraft were safe and professional,” the source said.
China’s state-backed Global Times newspaper, citing an unnamed Chinese military source, reported late on Saturday that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army carried out full-process tracking, monitoring, and alert operations throughout the transit.”
US warships traverse the strait every few months, enraging Beijing, and some US allies, such as France, Australia, Britain and Canada, have also made occasional transits.
China has ramped up its military presence around Taiwan and staged its latest war games around the island in late December.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
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