Trump to visit the UK in July

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Europe

US President Donald Trump will make a long-awaited visit to Britain on July 13, Downing Street announced on Thursday, his first since taking power in January last year.

The visit had been repeatedly delayed amid a series of diplomatic spats and fears it could be marred by anti-Trump demonstrations.

"The President of the United States will visit the UK on July 13," Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman said in a statement, adding he would hold bilateral talks with the British leader.

May offered Trump a state visit – which would involve meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace – when she was the first foreign leader to visit him shortly after entering the White House.

Prime Minister Theresa May meets US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, Jan. 27, 2017. /VCG Photo

The invitation provoked an uproar in Britain, where the US president's "America First" agenda, which includes a proposed ban on immigration from a number of Muslim-majority countries, is unpopular.

British lawmakers called on May to withdraw the offer, while protesters have promised to turn out in record numbers – vows which were reiterated on Thursday.

The July trip is set to be a working visit, with the US president expected at a NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium, on July 11 and 12.

Relations turned particularly testy last November after Trump shared three inflammatory anti-Muslim videos posted by far-right group Britain First.

A woman stands with a "Ban Trump" placard near the Houses of Parliament in London on Feb. 20, 2017, as parliament debates whether or not to allow Donald Trump a state visit. /VCG Photo

The retweeting caused consternation in Britain and further calls to scrap any visit.

When May condemned Trump for sharing the messages, he tweeted at her "don't focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom."

Trump later made a rare apology, saying he had been unaware of the group's background.

He was expected in London in February for the opening of the new US embassy on the banks of the River Thames in a former industrial area that is being regenerated.

The new US embassy in London designed by Philadelphia architect Kieran Timberlake, Dec. 16, 2017 /VCG Photo

But Trump caused offence again when he disparaged the neighborhood and announced that he would not be coming. He blamed his no-show on the decision to sell America's old embassy in Mayfair for "peanuts" while the new 1.2 billion US dollar site was in "an off location."

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Source(s): AFP