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Trump Plans Meeting With Britain's May at Davos Economic Forum

Trump will meet with Theresa May next week while he is at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Trump Plans Meeting With Britain's May at Davos Economic Forum
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, walks with Theresa May, U.K. prime minister, outside of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. (Photographer: Olivier Douliery/Pool via Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May next week while he is at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders announced plans for the meeting Friday, saying in an emailed statement that Trump “looks forward to having a bilateral meeting with” May in order to “further strengthen the U.S.–U.K. Special Relationship.”

Trump said last week that he “canceled” a visit to London to formally open the new U.S. embassy because the old site had been sold for “peanuts” and the new building, in an “off location,” was a “bad deal.”

There had been controversy over the possibility of a Trump visit to the U.K. ever since May delivered an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II in January last year. Opposition groups promised protests if he visited and John Bercow, speaker of the House of Commons, said he would not be welcome to address Parliament.

Trump’s criticism of London Mayor Sadiq Khan over his response to terrorist attacks and retweeting of propaganda by a fringe far-right U.K. political group stoked anger at the president. Trump even directly criticized May for condemning his retweets of Britain First, saying she should mind her own business.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson put a different gloss on the decision, saying earlier this week the president was avoiding a visit to Britain because he wants to allow May to focus her attention on withdrawing from the European Union.

To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Mike Dorning, Michael Shepard

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