President Trump
Donald John TrumpDems flip Wisconsin state Senate seat Sessions: 'We should be like Canada' in how we take in immigrants GOP rep: 'Sheet metal and garbage' everywhere in Haiti MORE is slated to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May next week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, officials announced Friday.
"President Trump looks forward to having a bilateral meeting with U.K. Prime Minister May in Davos next week to further strengthen the U.S.-U.K. special relationship," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement, saying more details would be released next week.
Downing Street also confirmed the visit, saying the "bilateral meeting" would happen "in the margins" of the summit.
A Trump administration official said Friday the president will be able to travel to the forum despite the possibility of a government shutdown starting at midnight Friday.
“He could do that pursuant to his constitutional authority to conduct diplomacy,” an official said on a call with reporters.
While May was the first foreign leader to visit the White House last year, relations between the U.S. and the U.K. have proved to be rocky in recent months.
May criticized Trump in November after he retweeted controversial videos from a far-right U.K. political figure, saying Trump was "wrong" to have reposted the tweets.
The president fired back in a tweet, saying May should focus on radical Islamic terror in the U.K. and not him.
.@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 30, 2017
Trump has not paid an official state visit to the U.K. yet and he announced earlier this month that he canceled a trip to London to open the new U.S. Embassy there.
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018