Brexit: Dominic Raab welcomes Trump’s ‘warmth and enthusiasm’ after Washington meeting

The foreign secretary is on a tour of North America, also taking in Canada and Mexico, to promote trade partnerships with post-Brexit Britain

Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has met US President Donald Trump in the White House on his first visit to Washington in his new post.

Mr Raab said that the president expressed “warmth and enthusiasm” for the UK-US relationship, in a meeting which included discussions on a possible free trade deal following Brexit.

The Foreign Office said that his encounter with the president came on the margins of a scheduled meeting with vice-president Mike Pence on Tuesday evening, during Mr Raab’s three-day tour of North America, which is also taking in Canada and Mexico.

Mr Raab said: “I was delighted to meet the president and the vice-president on my first visit to Washington as foreign secretary.

“We appreciate the president’s warmth and enthusiasm for the UK-US relationship. The UK looks forward to working with our American friends to reach a free trade deal that is good for both countries, and co-operating on the common security challenges we face.”

The foreign secretary’s account of the president’s “warmth” reflects a marked change in tone following the handover of power in London from Theresa May, whose handling of Brexit Mr Trump dismissed as “foolish” and “a disaster”. The US president made no secret of his preference for Boris Johnson as PM, hailing him as “tough” and “smart” and claiming that he was being referred to as “Britain Trump”.

Mr Raab was having further discussions on a range of foreign and security policy issues on Wednesday in the US capital, including with secretary of state Mike Pompeo and the president’s national security adviser John Bolton.

Meeting with his Canadian counterpart Chrystia Freeland in Toronto on Tuesday, Mr Raab said his aim was to ensure a “seamless transition” to new trading arrangements following Brexit on 31 October.

He said then: ‘For the UK, Brexit is not just about risk management – although that’s important, and I wouldn’t want to be glib or not take that very seriously – but it’s also …about grasping the enormous opportunities of our new found freedoms.

‘Yes, we’re going to remain and we hope to be good European neighbours, partners and friends in the future but we do want to grasp those global opportunities and we want to expand our horizons and raise our level of ambitions in the world.”

However, former US Treasury secretary Larry Summers said that a “desperate” UK would be in too a weak position to secure a favourable trade deal with the US following a no-deal Brexit.

“Britain has much less to give than Europe as a whole did, therefore less reason for the United States to make concessions,” said the former economic adviser to Barack Obama. “You make more concessions dealing with a wealthy man than you do dealing with a poor man.

“Britain has no leverage, Britain is desperate … it needs an agreement very soon. When you have a desperate partner, that’s when you strike the hardest bargain.”

Mr Raab’s meeting came as international trade secretary Liz Truss was also in the US for talks with Mr Trump’s chief trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.

Ms Truss said: “Negotiating and signing an exciting new free trade agreement with the US is one of my top priorities. Having already laid the groundwork, we are fast-tracking this deal so that businesses are able to take advantage of the golden opportunity to increase trade with the US as soon as possible.

“The US is our biggest trading partner and we have more than $1 trillion invested in each other’s economies. We want to get formal talks moving quickly.”