Trump tells BBC that King’s visit could ‘absolutely’ help repair relations with UK! Demo Post
US President Donald Trump has said next week’s state visit from King Charles III and Queen Camilla could help repair relations with the UK.
When asked in a phone interview with the BBC whether the visit could help repair the relationship, Trump said: “Absolutely. He’s fantastic. He’s a fantastic man. Absolutely the answer is yes.”
“I know him well, I’ve known him for years,” he said. “He’s a brave man, and he’s a great man. They would absolutely be a positive.”
The president also spoke about his relationship with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, who he said could only “recover” if he changed course on immigration.
The King and Queen will travel to the US for a four-day visit beginning on Monday, and will meet with Trump at the White House.
The King will have a private meeting with the president and also deliver an address to Congress.
After two days in Washington DC, they will travel to New York, Virginia and Bermuda before returning to the UK.
The Foreign Office said the trip would mark the 250th anniversary of US independence, and would celebrate a partnership of “shared prosperity, security and history”.
The two leaders have appeared at odds over the war in Iran, and the prime minister has faced mounting pressure over his decision to appoint Lord Mandelson as UK ambassador to the US.
In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Trump said Lord Mandelson was “a really bad pick” but the prime minister had “plenty of time to recover”.
When asked what he meant by that post, Trump said: “If he opened the North Sea and if his immigration policies became strong, which right now they’re not, he can recover, but if he doesn’t, I don’t think he has a chance.”
Trump has repeatedly called on the UK to increase oil and gas extraction in the North Sea.
“I make my decisions based on what’s in the British national interest and not what other people say or do,” Sir Keir said while talking to broadcasters about the president’s comments on Thursday.
“That is why I took the decision that we would not be dragged into the war in Iran,” he said. “I’m not going to be diverted or deflected from that by what anybody else says.”
