When Donald Trump Met Theresa May

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/opinion/when-donald-trump-met-theresa-may.html

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Ever since Winston Churchill first used the phrase, it has been mandatory at the first meeting of any British prime minister and American president to invoke their countries’ “special relationship.” Rarely, however, has there been as much suspense waiting to hear that phrase as when a British leader working to extract her country from Europe met on Friday with a president whose foreign policy is still a fog and whose mantra is “America first.”

Prime Minister Theresa May had a lot to gain, or to lose, from her trip to Washington. Faced with negotiations over Britain’s planned exit from the European Union, she needed to demonstrate to Continental Europeans and to British voters that she had a powerful alternative source of support and trade across the Atlantic. The problem for Mrs. May was that President Trump had been saying a lot of things unacceptable to the British — about torture, NATO, Vladimir Putin and even the uselessness of the E.U., a sentiment Britain officially does not share.

Mr. Trump, for his part, needed for his first meeting with a foreign leader to be at least somewhat presidential after a chaotic first week in the White House, with a deepening crisis in relations with Mexico and questions swirling about his attitude toward Russia as he prepared for a telephone conversation on Saturday with President Putin.

Hanging over the meeting were reports that the Trump administration is preparing to lift sanctions against Russia, perhaps unilaterally. Kellyanne Conway, the president’s counselor, said, “All of that is under consideration,” on “Fox and Friends” on Friday.

Mrs. May, in a speech in Philadelphia on Thursday, cautioned that the United States and Britain needed to reassure Russia’s neighbors about their security. “We should not jeopardize the freedoms that President Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher brought to Eastern Europe by accepting President Putin’s claim that it is now in his sphere of influence.”

Meanwhile, the leaders of the two major E.U. countries — Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and President François Hollande of France — met on Friday in Berlin, where Mrs. Merkel also cited the need to safeguard democratic freedoms at a time when Europe faces great challenges. She called for “a clear, common commitment to the European Union, to what we have accomplished, and to the values of our liberal democratic democracies.”

Mrs. May and Mr. Trump both seemed relieved at the outcome of their meeting. Appearing for a quick, 18-minute news conference, they affirmed that they would negotiate a bilateral trade agreement. Mr. Trump said he would allow his defense secretary, Jim Mattis, who is against the use of torture, to override him on the matter; on Russia, he said he did not know what his relations with Mr. Putin would be. And Mrs. May, with evident relief, said Mr. Trump had expressed 100 percent support for NATO. She, like many Americans, is probably wondering how long Mr. Trump will stick to those views.

Given the scrutiny Mr. Trump’s tumultuous first week attracted, and the passionate debate in England over Brexit, the meeting was certain to be minutely dissected. On balance, Mrs. May seemed to collect the special recognition she came for, and Mr. Trump at least appeared subdued. The real test for their relationship, however, may be how Mr. Trump handles America’s relations with Mr. Putin.