Tuesday 6 September 2022 07:26 PM Biden congratulates Liz Truss on becoming British PM and will call her today trends now
President Joe Biden on Tuesday congratulated Liz Truss on becoming British prime minister and will call her later in the day.
Biden and Truss will speak at 3:30 pm Washington time, which is 8:30 London time, the president told reporters at the White House.
'I'm looking forward to it. I'm going to talk to her about a lot of things,' he said.
Earlier he had offered his congratulations, saying he looked forward to deepening the 'special relationship' between the US and UK.
'Congratulations to Prime Minister Liz Truss. I look forward to deepening the special relationship between our countries and working in close cooperation on global challenges, including continued support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russian aggression,' Biden wrote on Twitter.
Truss, the head of Britain's Conservative Party, is said to be less keen on the 'special relationship' with the US than some of her predecessors. In the past she has called it 'special, but not exclusive.'
The White House wouldn't preview what Biden and Truss will discuss. The two leaders could have a face-to-face meeting later this month when both are in New York for the annual UN General Assembly meeting.
'He's planning to call her to congratulate her, the new prime minister, and so that's going to happen later this afternoon,' White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily press briefing.
President Joe Biden (left) will call new British Prime Minister Liz Truss (right) at 3:30 pm Washington time, which is 8:30 London time, to congratulate her
Biden and Truss have met before. She, in her role of foreign secretary, accompanied then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his visit to the White House last September. She and Biden also talked when he attended the COP26 conference in Scotland last October.
Jean-Pierre also wouldn't say if Biden would discuss the situation in Northern Ireland during the call, a topic that is expected to be a tense one between the two leaders.
Administration officials are worried Truss could upend the post-Brexit trade agreements in Northern Ireland - a move that would then threaten the 1998 Good Friday peace deal that ended three decades of conflict.
Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, essentially stays in the European Union market, along with its neighbor the Republic of Ireland, an independent country.
To keep the land border between the two open, customs checks are done on goods being moved to and from the mainland UK.
U.K. leaders want to renegotiate this deal because, they claim, it erodes the standing of Northern Ireland within the U.K.
Truss is one of the agreements fiercest critics and has publicly committed to push legislation that would give ministers the power to unilaterally suspend parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol through Parliament.
Biden, who is proud of his Irish heritage, strongly opposed Brexit and has expressed great concern over the future of Northern Ireland.
Jean-Pierre declined to say if the president would broach the topic on the call.
'I'm not going to get ahead or speak to what the President might say,' she said. 'But he has been clear about his continued interest in Northern Ireland. Our priority remains protecting the gains of the Belfast Good Friday
