In relation to a trade deal in the future I would say President Trump and America want to do a good trade deal with us.
The Prime Minister last tonight held trade talks with US President Donald Trump just hours after some of America’s biggest business leaders were wowed by her plans for a Britain free of the EU’s shackles.
But while businesses expressed huge confidence in Brexit Britain and Mrs May’s government they also warned that this would disappear if Jeremy Corbyn becomes Prime Minister.
Speaking to journalists ahead of her meetings, Mrs May said that people in the UK can trust Mr Trump to deliver because he has made good his promises to her.
She said: “In relation to a trade deal in the future I would say President Trump and America want to do a good trade deal with us.
“It’s in both our interests to do that good trade deal.
“And I believe that when we have negotiated that deal that indeed will be put in place.”
Saying why she believed she is confident in Mr Trump giving Britain a good deal she pointed to his support of Britain on Nato and the Salisbury chemical weapons attack by Russia.
Mrs May said: “I would point to two examples of where I have had discussions with President Trump.
President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May at the United Nations General Assembly in NY (Image: REUTERS)
“When Salisbury happened I talked to President Trump about the actions America could take, he said they would take that action and they did exactly that.
“I’ve talked to him about the importance of Nato and he remains committed to Nato.”
The Prime Minister also talked of her strong focus on getting the job done despite attacks from the Tory backbenches by both Brexiteers and Remainers, and attempts from within the EU to undermine her.
Asked how she coped with “the world’s hardest job” a resilient Mrs May said: “Throughout my working career whatever job I’m doing, whatever job I’m taking on, I take a very simple approach to it that you focus on where you want to get to and then work out how to get there and then just do that and put it into practice.
“Yes different jobs have different challenges. If you believe in your goal that’s how you get there.
May praised Trump’s support of Britain on Nato and the Salisbury chemical weapons attack (Image: REUTERS)
I believe absolutely in delivering on the people’s vote and doing it in the best way for the UK.”
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister was the leading speaker at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum where she laid out her vision for a Global Britain after Brexit.
The forum, chaired by former New York mayor and Bloomberg media company chief executive Michael Bloomberg, included the chief executives of America’s biggest companies who expressed their eagerness to invest in Brexit Britain.
The Prime Minister said she had a “bold and optimistic” view of Britain’s place in the world whatever happens with the EU negotiations, even if there is no deal.
Key to her message is that Britain’s strengths remain whether it is part of the EU or not and will allow it to succeed in the future.
She said: “Some of the key elements in the UK that make it a great place to do business aren’t going to change post Brexit.
“We are still going to have those great scientists, those innovators, that great eco system of professional services financial services, we are still going to have some of the best universities in the world, a great legal system.
“The positives which bring people to invest in the UK will still be there regardless of the Brexit talks.”
Mrs May also made it clear she would tackle Mr Trump’s scepticism for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) whose rules underpin global free trade.
She made it clear she wants the WTO to have a beefed up roles to boost free trade in comments which drew approval from her business leader audience.
Theresa May speaks during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council (Image: REUTERS)
She said: “We need to give the WTO a broad, ambitious and urgent mandate to reform, to address the areas where it is not functioning effectively, to deal with issues that are not currently covered and maintain trust in the system.
“For example, we need to see new rules in areas such as digital trade and services, including e-commerce that can boost growth across these dynamic sectors.
“We need WTO reforms to increase fairness for all participating countries; and to enhance global legitimacy and public support for the multilateral trading system, including through greater transparency.”
Leading praise for Mrs may and Britain, Mr Bloomberg pointed out that his company has recently opened its £1 billion European headquarters in London as a statement of confidence in Britain.
He described the UK as “the father of America” in its values for freedom and free trade and praised Mrs May’s “values” for spreading free trade “across the world.”
President Trump and Prime Minister Theresa May are confident of agreeing a free trade deal (Image: GETTY/REUTERS)
Steve Schwarzmann , the chief executive of Blackstone, pointed out that his company’s confidence in Britain had led to a long term commitment with a £1.5 billion investment in railway arches earlier this month.
However, he made it clear that America’s biggest fear in terms of Britain’s future is not Brexit but a change of government with comments which evoked the shadow of Jeremy Corbyn as Prime Minister, even though he did not directly name the Labour leader.
He said: “In terms of downside management, we actually just bought a thing in the UK last week so I guess we are believers [in Brexit Britain].
“But on the other side, things could really go off with a bad Brexit and also a change of government.
“The thing things that we really worry about is how bad can things get?”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is seen as a threat to the UK and US relationship (Image: GETTY)
The question and answer session with the Prime Minister was conducted by Ginni Rometty, who also expressed her confidence in Mrs May’s vision.
She told Mrs May: “What I heard you describe up there was an extremely positive, forward looking message to business.
“I think most of us in this room really want to see that all come to pass not only for our past investments but our future investments.
Looking at how Mrs May is delivering Brexit, Ms Rometty went on: “Once somebody said to me ‘everything in politics is impossible until it is not’.
The US President praised Mrs May at their meeting.
US President Donald Trump was full of praise for Theresa May (Image: REUTERS)
He said: US President Donald Trump said: “It’s my great honour to be here with Prime Minister Theresa May. She’s working very hard, like all us, and doing a very, very good job.
“We spent a lot of time together on my last trip to the UK and I think that’s where we can say we got to know each other and it was like meeting after meeting after meeting and I said this is really good.
“Every meeting became better and better. I will say that we are talking about a lot of different things today – trade, military, security, protection all sorts of things. We have a myriad of things to talk about.
“I just want to say it’s great to be with you and it’s great to have you as a friend.”
After the meeting a UK official said: “They agreed that Brexit provides a wonderful opportunity to strike a big and ambitious UK-US Free Trade Agreement.”