PHILADELPHIA — British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday embraced U.S. President Donald Trump as a friend and ally, but cautioned him not to turn his back on global institutions and long-established political values.
On her first visit to the United States as prime minister, May called the start of Trump’s term “a new era of American renewal” — but firmly rejected the president’s suggestion that torture might be acceptable, and rebuffed some of his foreign-policy views.
May flew to Philadelphia a day before she will hold talks with Trump at the White House and become the first foreign leader to meet the president since his inauguration.
May worked hard to get the invitation, and is seizing the opportunity to bolster the trans-Atlantic “special relationship” and work toward a U.S.-U.K. free trade deal after Britain leaves the European Union.
She told a gathering of Republican lawmakers at their annual Congressional retreat that a Britain outside the EU and the U.S. under Trump can “lead together again” in the world, as they did when they set up the United Nations, NATO and other international organizations the new president has strongly criticized.
Throughout the more than half-hour of her speech, May declared sympathy for Trump’s world view, then reminded the gathered Republicans — and by extension the president — of the United States’ international obligations.
She also joined in Trump’s criticism of past U.S. foreign policy, saying “the days of Britain and America intervening in sovereign countries in an attempt to remake the world in our own image are over.”
The comment could be read as a critique of military interventions in Iraq and Libya, and suggested an insular approach to the world that echoes Trump’s “America First” stance.
But May also said Britain was a strongly internationalist nation that supports a strong EU and considers NATO the bulwark of global security.
May praised Trump’s dedication to fighting violent Islamic extremism, but seemed to reject his suggestion for a ban on immigration by Muslims. She once called the idea “divisive, stupid and wrong.”
“We should always be careful to distinguish between this extreme and hateful ideology, and the peaceful religion of Islam and the hundreds of millions of its adherents,” she said at the gathering.
May acknowledged the need to work with Russia to end the war in Syria, but drew applause when she cautioned that the West’s approach to President Vladimir Putin should be “engage but beware.”
She spoke of Iran’s “malign influence,” but praised the international deal that has limited its nuclear program. And she acknowledged fears about the rise of China, but said the growth of Asian economies “is hugely welcome.”
Amid the foreign-policy suggestions, May wooed Republicans with an ode to the “special relationship” between the two countries. Her remarks were dotted with references to Winston Churchill, the Magna Carta and — of course — Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, a famously friendly Republican president and Conservative prime minister.
May told reporters aboard her Royal Air Force plane flying to the U.S. that “we absolutely condemn the use of torture.”
