Theresa May has hailed the "powerful vote of confidence" in Britain Donald Trump and other world leaders have shown with their "strong desire" to strike new trade deals after Brexit.
The Prime Minister said she is "optimistic and positive" about a future pact with the US after the president said he believed an agreement could be reached "very, very quickly".
Following talks on the margins of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Mr Trump hailed the "very special relationship" he had developed with the PM.
He said he expected an agreement on new trading arrangements with Britain to be "very powerful".
Mrs May said: "We are optimistic and positive about this."
As well as talks with President Trump, Mrs May has met the premiers of China, Japan and India for one-to-one meetings during the two-day summit.
She said: "I've held a number of meetings with other world leaders at this summit and have been struck by their strong desire to forge ambitious new bilateral trading relationships with the UK after Brexit.
"This is a powerful vote of confidence in British goods, British services, Britain's economy and the British people and we look forward to building on these conversations in the months ahead."
Mrs May insisted she was confident the UK would also secure a good deal with the EU "because it's not just about what's in the interests of the United Kingdom, it's about what's in the interests of the remaining 27 members states in the European Union and I think it is in the interests of both sides to have that good trade agreement".
She added: "But I'm also optimistic about the opportunities that we will see in the rest of the world.
"Some of the countries I have been talking to here who have shown great interest in working with us on trade arrangements in the future, the United States, Japan, China, India, these are all huge world economies.
"This is an important development for the United Kingdom and I look forward to developing those trade deals as well."
Mr Trump and the Prime Minister agreed in a 50-minute meeting to prioritise work on the trade deal so it can be completed "as soon as possible" after Brexit, a UK Government official said.
They also pledged to look at areas where trade can be deepened before Britain quits the EU. The discussions ran 20 minutes over schedule and the leaders continued to chat as they walked to another meeting at the Hamburg summit.
Mrs May also held a 20-minute meeting with her Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, which focused on trade and North Korea's nuclear missile programme.
Japan's new trade deal with the EU, signed off on Thursday, "could form the basis" of an agreement between London and Tokyo following Brexit, Mrs May told the Japanese premier.
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi told Mrs May he wanted to see economic links with the UK deepen now and after Brexit and they agreed to work together to put a "concrete" plan in place, according to a UK government official.
Mrs May also held talks with President Xi on Friday over a future deal with China.
President Trump said: "There is no country that could possibly be closer than our countries.
"We have been working on a trade deal which will be a very, very big deal, a very powerful deal, great for both countries and I think we will have that done very, very quickly."
He added: "Prime Minister May and I have developed a very special relationship and I think trade will be a very big factor between our two countries."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel