UK Warns US Against Isolationist Policies

President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Washington, 28 Rabiul Akhir 1438/27 January 2017 (MINA) – British Prime Minister Theresa May on Thursday warned against isolationist policies, and said it was in the interests of the UK and US to work together on global affairs, including Israel.

May, who earlier arrived in Washington on a two-day visit, told Republican lawmakers in Philadelphia a day before meeting President Donald Trump that both should “stand strong together” to defend their shared values, interests and ideas.

“Whether it is the security of Israel in the Middle East or the Baltic states in eastern Europe, we must always stand up for our friends and allies in democratic countries that find themselves in tough neighborhoods too,” KUNA quoted May as saying.

Hailing the new Trump administration, she said that “an America that is strong and prosperous at home is a nation that can lead abroad.” But she warned that the US “cannot and should not do so alone,” adding that “this cannot mean a return to the failed policies of the past.”

She also warned that the days of “intervening in sovereign countries in an attempt to remake the world in our own image are over.” But, she said, both cannot “stand idly by when the threat is real and when it is in our own interests to intervene.”

The British prime minister said it was an “honour” to be the first international leader to be meeting the new US president and that both countries share a “unique relationship.”

She also noted shared initiatives between the two throughout the modern era on matters like World War II, the Cold War, NATO, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

May is scheduled to meet Trump on Friday. She will be the first international leader to do so since the US president was inaugurated last Friday. (T/RS05/RS01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)