President Joe Biden congratulated Liz Truss on Tuesday on her appointment as British Prime Minister and will call her later in the day.
Biden and Truss will speak at 3:30 p.m. Washington time, which is 8:30 a.m. London time, the president told reporters at the White House.
‘I look forward to it. I’ll talk to her about many things,’ he said.
He previously offered his congratulations and said he looks forward to deepening the “special relationship” between the US and Britain.
“Congratulations to Prime Minister Liz Truss. I look forward to deepening the special ties between our countries and working closely together on global challenges, including continuing to help Ukraine defend against Russian aggression,” Biden wrote on Twitter.
Truss, the leader of the British Conservative Party, is said to be less interested in 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 did not want to anticipate 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.
“He plans to call her to congratulate her, the new prime minister, and that will be later this afternoon,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at her daily news briefing.
President Joe Biden (left) will call Britain’s new Prime Minister Liz Truss (right) at 3:30pm Washington time, which is 8:30am London time, to congratulate her
Biden and Truss have met before. In her role as Secretary of State, she accompanied then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson on his visit to the White House last September. She and Biden also chatted when he attended the COP26 conference in Scotland last October.
Jean-Pierre also wouldn’t say whether Biden would discuss the situation in Northern Ireland during the call, an issue expected to be tense between the two leaders.
Administration officials are concerned Truss could upend post-Brexit trade deals in Northern Ireland – a move that would then jeopardize the 1998 Good Friday Peace Agreement that ended three decades of conflict.
Under the Northern Ireland Protocol, Northern Ireland, part of the United Kingdom, remains essentially in the European Union market, along with its neighbour, the Republic of Ireland, an independent country.
To keep the land border between the two countries open, goods moving to and from mainland Britain are subject to customs controls.
British leaders want to renegotiate this deal because they claim it undermines Northern Ireland’s standing within the UK
Truss is one of the agreement’s harshest critics and has publicly pledged to push for 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, has spoken out strongly against Brexit and has expressed grave concerns about Northern Ireland’s future.
Jean-Pierre declined to say whether the president would raise the issue on the conference call.
“I’m not going to move forward or speak to what the president might say,” she said. “But he has made clear his continued interest in Northern Ireland. Our priority remains protecting the achievements of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and maintaining peace, stability and prosperity for the people of Northern Ireland. Again, I will not get ahead of what the President is going to say.’
Liz Truss officially became Prime Minister on Tuesday after meeting with the Queen in Balmoral and being formally asked by HM to form a government
The newly installed Prime Minister took to a podium in front of the famous black door after returning to London from the Queen’s Balmoral residence in Scotland – where the transfer of power took place
Truss formally replaced Johnson as Prime Minister on Tuesday after meeting with the Queen in Balmoral and being formally asked by HM to form a government.
In her first statements as Prime Minister, Truss promised to deal with Britain’s energy crisis.
“I’m confident that together we can weather the storm, rebuild our economy and become the modern, brilliant Britain I know we can be,” she said.
Truss is reportedly planning to freeze household energy bills at near current levels this winter through government-backed loans to utilities.
Energy bills are set to skyrocket next month as winter approaches and European nations struggle to wean themselves off Russian energy sources in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
“I will deal with the energy crisis caused by Putin’s war,” Truss told reporters on the steps of 10 Downing Street.
“I will take action this week to settle energy bills and secure our future energy supply,” she said.
The situation in Britain threatens a livelihood crisis for millions.
The White House blamed Putin’s invasion of Ukraine for the crisis.
“We see what Russia is doing and we were very aware that they use energy. They use energy as a weapon,” Jean-Pierre said, adding that “we are working closely with our allies on this case.”
While Britain and the US presented a united front in response to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Truss has at times frustrated Biden officials.
Earlier this year, she said Britain and the US must work together to create a Marshall Plan-style program for Ukraine, modeled after the one used to rebuild Europe after World War II.
But the speech “raised eyebrows” among officials in the Biden administration, a US official told the Financial Times, because Washington has donated billions more in money and arms to Ukraine than Britain.
Meanwhile, during a Conservative Party conference last year, Truss said the relationship between the US and Britain was “special but not exclusive,” while noting that Britain had other allies like Australia and India.
Adding to tensions, Truss insisted in October that a post-Brexit trade deal with the US was not the be-all and end-all as she refused to commit to a pact to be finalized by 2030.
Truss said the UK has a “huge pipeline of deals” ready for the coming months, telling the US: “We’re ready when you’re ready.”
The White House has made it clear that a trade deal with Britain is not an immediate priority for Biden, raising questions about the strength of the “special relationship”.
A trade deal with the US has been billed by Brexiteers as one of the top prizes for leaving the EU. But talks stalled after Biden became president.
Then-Foreign Secretary Liz Truss met President Joe Biden and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall at a COP26 reception at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery on November 1, 2021
Truss met Biden during a September 2021 visit to the White House with Johnson.
She said of it at the time: “It was a very, very positive meeting. We’ve talked about everything from trade to our security partnership to the future of the free world.
“The great thing about Biden is that he is a great Democrat and has made it very clear that he will fight for democracy, he wants to work to challenge authoritarian regimes.
“That hour and a half meeting, I think, showed the depth of our relationship, but also his determination to do it.”