UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Freshly in office, Prime Minister Andy Burnham got off to a strong start with U.S. President Donald Trump at their first meeting on Tuesday, with the president brushing aside differences over the Middle East and calling the British leader “a natural business person.”
The two men met for more than the scheduled 30 minutes on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, which Burnham is due to address later in the day.
It’s a baptism
of fire for the neophyte leader, who has gone from mayor of the northwest England city of Manchester to leader of a G7 country in a matter of weeks.
But despite U.K. nerves about how it would go, as they sat in front of U.K. and U.S. flags, Trump declared that trans-Atlantic relations were “more up than they were with your last prime minister.”
“Based on our relationship with the prime minister, Andy, I think we're doing very well," he said.
U.K. officials know that the president can be fickle. Trump initially warmed to Burnham’s predecessor, Keir Starmer, before falling out over the U.K.’s unwillingness to join the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. But there was relief that Burnham emerged largely unscathed from his first meeting with a president who once dismissed him as “the mayor of a town."
“We don't hold it against you,” Burnham said.
Burnham nodded at U.S.-U.K. differences, noting that Trump had been “good enough to listen to us" on issues including trade and the Falkland Islands. Trump has recently mused about the future of the British-controlled South Atlantic archipelago, which is also claimed by Argentina, which calls it the Malvinas. The two nations fought a brief 1982 war over the islands.
But on one potential flashpoint, the U.K.’s decision to ban trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Trump professed ignorance.
Trump's harshest words were reserved for Britain's plan to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. The U.K. says the deal will preserve the future of a strategic U.S. military base on one of the islands, Diego Garcia. But ratification of an agreement stalled after the Trump administration withdrew its support. U.K. officials acknowledge the deal is now in limbo.
Trump called it “a terrible deal” over a “very important piece of real estate, militarily and strategically.”
“I think the prime minister is going to be looking at it,” he said.
Before the meeting, Burnham said he would raise with Trump ways to end the on-off war between the U.S. and Iran, which has choked off oil tankers moving through the Strait of Hormuz and sent global fuel prices soaring. Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure are making the problem worse while rendering Burnham’s pledge to ease cost of living pressure for British voters even harder.
As he flew to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders, Burnham announced he had authorized limited military support for Saudi Arabia to repel attacks from Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. A Royal Air Force plane will refuel Saudi jets engaged in “defensive” action to shoot down Houthi missiles, he said.
Burnham also said he would urge Trump to step up U.S. support for Ukraine by providing air-defense missiles to Ukraine ahead of another winter of Russian attacks.
In his speech later, Burnham will try to send a message that Britain can play a key role in solving the world’s biggest challenges, from conflict in the Middle East to the dizzying evolution of artificial intelligence. And he will attempt to turn the page on a decade of Brexit-driven discord with the U.K.’s European neighbors.
Burnham said he would focus on artificial intelligence, arguing it’s possible to be “clear-eyed” about both the benefits and risks of the technology. He will argue the U.K. is well placed to be an “honest broker” in seeking global agreement to guide its development, because London has good relations with both the U.S. and Europe and “a strong dialogue” with China.
In another potential point of tension with Trump, Burnham called for a global alliance to guide the development of AI.
Burnham told a meeting of business leaders on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly that he wants to see “a single set of global principles and standards” that can unlock AI’s potential while mitigating its risks.
Trump told the U.N. on Tuesday that the U.S “totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme” to regulate AI.
Burnham also will say that Britain will “draw a line under the last decade" since the U.K.’s 2016 decision to leave the European Union. He suggested Brexit was a point at which the country took a wrong turn, fueled by misinformation.
The policy of Burnham's Labour Party government is to seek closer relations with the EU without reversing the decision to leave the now 27-nation bloc. Burnham hinted that he could go further at the next national election, which is due by 2029.
He told reporters that in the past decade, Britain had experienced “the turbulence that comes when outside actors seek to manipulate, distort facts, influence the British democratic process.”
“Going into the next decade we need to be clear-eyed about that and stronger and more on the front foot about challenging that,” he said.
