Donald Trump’s Davos snub casts new doubt on ‘special relationship’

Donald Trump’s “lukewarm” reaction to British hopes for a meeting with Theresa May in Davos has cast the celebrated “special relationship” in a harsh new light.

The US president “is poised to snub” May for the second time in a month, reports The Daily Telegraph, which says the Prime Minister had hoped for a “clear the air” meeting at the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort next week.

The move follows Trump’s abrupt cancellation of a trip to the UK to open the new US embassy in London next month.

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Trump is making time for meetings in Davos with French President Emmanuel Macron and Swiss President Alain Berset, but there is no date in his diary yet for the British PM.

Whitehall sources told The Times that Trump is angry following a series of diplomatic incidents, including a war of words over Islamist extremism with London Mayor Sadiq Khan. US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson stoked speculation further when he blamed the president’s cancelled trip on the UK’s need to focus on Brexit, Reuters says.

Some British officials speculated that Trump may simply be annoyed at reports that he won’t be invited to Prince Harry’s wedding to the actress Meghan Markle, Bloomberg says. But May’s relationship with Trump has been rocky since his election. They argued over intelligence leaks in the wake of the Manchester bombing and clashed again when the president re-tweeted far-right anti-Muslim videos.

“What the British still like to call the special relationship has hit a bump in the road,” the Financial Times says. “A year ago, Theresa May dashed to Washington to be the first foreign leader to cross the threshold of Donald Trump’s White House. Now the US president has told the world he is steering clear of London.”

So was Jeremy Corbyn right? It is time for the UK to stop obsessing about the US-UK relationship and focus more on the EU, India and China?

It is a painful problem for a nation that has positioned itself as America’s best friend - one sorely in need of a post-Brexit trade deal.

The US ambassador to Britain played down the rift in an interview with the Forces Network website yesterday, saying Britain and the US shared the same values: prosperity and security. But that may not be enough, argues the FT.

“Brexit promises a future in geopolitical no man’s land,” the newspaper says. “Britain’s future is that of a nation badly diminished in Europe and simultaneously unloved in the US.”