Donald Trump hailed Boris Johnson as the “right man for the job” of delivering Brexit and promised a “very big trade deal” as the two leaders held their first meeting.
The US President said he had long held his views on Mr Johnson’s suitability for being Prime Minister, which “didn’t make your predecessor very happy”.
The two leaders were meeting at the G7 summit to talk about the possibility of a UK-US trade deal once Britain has left the European Union.
The president said: “We’re going to do a very big trade deal, bigger than we’ve ever had with the UK and now at some point they won’t have the obstacle, they won’t have the anchor around their ankle, because that’s what they have.”
However, Mr Johnson has warned that a trade deal with the US will not be “plain sailing” and has raised a series of areas where he wants concessions from Washington.
He told Mr Trump: “Talking of the anchor, Donald, what we want is for our ships to take freight, say, from New York to Boston, which for the moment they’re not able to do.”
The president said he wanted a deal done “quickly” because in the past he had been “stymied” under Theresa May and while the UK was still negotiating Brexit.
He added: “This is a different person and this is a person that’s going to be a great Prime Minister, in my opinion.”
Mr Johnson told him: “I know that there will be some tough talks ahead because at the moment I don’t think we sell a single joint of British lamb in the United States; we don’t sell any beef…. And there are huge opportunities for the UK to penetrate the American market in ways we currently don’t.”
Asked if he had made clear his views on protecting the NHS and animal welfare standards in trade talks with Mr Trump, the Prime Minister told the PA news agency: “There is complete unanimity on that point.”
The Prime Minister also warned Mr Trump against escalating his trade war with China.
“We are in favour of trade peace on the whole,” he said as the two leaders and their teams had a working breakfast at the Hotel du Palais.
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