Trump Won’t Visit London to Open Embassy. His U.K. Critics Say He Got the Message.
LONDON — President Trump’s cancellation of a visit to London to open a new United States embassy was welcomed by his many critics in Britain on Friday, even
as it deepened the diplomatic problems confronting a British government struggling to forge closer ties to Washington without offending opinion at home.
In a statement released on Friday the United States Embassy in London said that, in 2007, a plan was developed
“to finance a new embassy project through a property swap for existing U. S. government property in London.
Last year the United States ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, said
that he hoped Mr. Trump would visit in early 2018 and dedicate the new embassy, providing the opportunity for a symbolically important, but lower-key, visit to a close ally.
With Britain to leave the European Union in 2019, Mrs. May hopes to negotiate a new trade agreement with the United States,
and the state visit was partly seen as a way of cementing ties with Mr. Trump.
“Macron treated Trump with respect and warmth on the one hand,” said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations,
a research institute, “but on the other hand was principled in defense of French interests, and didn’t give an iota on the substance.”
By contrast, Mrs. May was “all over the place,” Mr. Leonard added.
