(CN) – Amid protests, pageantry and political spats, President Donald Trump arrived in London on Monday for a three-day state visit, only the fourth by an American leader.
His arrival was met by wide-scale protests and with political leaders on the left boycotting a lavish state dinner Monday night hosted by the royal family. The refusal by the leaders of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats to be seated with Trump was blasted by those on the right as disrespectful to Britain's closest ally.
Trump is very unpopular in the United Kingdom and his visit is even drawing unfavorable comparisons to embarrassing past visits the royal family hosted with dictators such as Romania's Nicolae Ceauşescu and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.
The president's visit comes at a crucial moment for the U.K.: It is caught between leaving the European Union and forging an even closer relationship with the United States or remaining tied to the EU and its closest neighbors.
For Trump and his administration, there's a clear strategy: Entice Britain to leave the EU and open up its markets, and even its government-run healthcare system, to American companies.
Many within the Conservative Party are pushing for closer ties to the U.S. and say Brexit will lead to a U.S. trade deal that will lower consumer prices and boost the U.K. economy.
But critics say such a trade deal would lead to the U.K. becoming flooded with American products adhering to low standards, such as chicken treated with chlorine and hormone-laden beef.
On the eve of Trump's trip, fears of an American invasion were stoked when the U.S. ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, told a BBC interviewer that Britain's much-beloved national healthcare system should be opened up in any eventual trade deal with the U.S.
For a president in his first term, and one so unpopular in Britain, Trump's invitation was unusual – but the result of what many now call a rash political calculation by Conservative British Prime Minister Theresa May to win Trump's heart.
In 2017, shortly after becoming prime minister, May made her first overseas trip to the United States and extended the offer for the state visit to Trump. At the time, May was eager to buy support for a new trade deal with the United States while she was vowing to take Britain out of the EU.
Fast forward, and May is on her way out of Downing Street, undone by her inability to get Brexit done.
Instead of forcefully breaking off ties with the EU, May found it necessary to negotiate a deal with the EU that kept Britain closely tied to Europe in order to avoid potentially catastrophic economic and political damage. But her deal was rejected three times by a deeply divided Parliament.
Now, her country's politics are paralyzed by the impasse over Brexit and Trump has turned on May, calling her Brexit negotiations a failure. The U.S. president is now supporting some of her loudest critics who are not opposed to Britain's leaving the EU without a deal. May and Trump are expected to sit down and talk Tuesday.
Trump arrived in London stoking turmoil – as has become routine in his trips to Europe, where many political leaders see him as damaging the transatlantic relationship and promoting far-right ideas and backing political leaders, such as Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and British politician Nigel Farage, who are seeking to undermine the EU project of deeper integration on the continent.
He's also damaged relations by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum while also threatening even more far-reaching tariffs on agricultural goods and even automobiles. At the same time, Trump has thrown into question America's commitment to defend Europe militarily.
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