Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain, which starts Monday, has the potential to be a strange and tense occasion. Opinion polls suggest the US president is widely unpopular in the UK. There are likely to be anti-Trump demonstrations in London. And some important political figures, including the leaders of two big opposition parties, and John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, have declined invitations to the state banquet in honour of the US president.
Mr Trump also arrives in Britain in the middle of a political crisis. Theresa May, the prime minister, is about to leave office — and her successor has yet to be determined. This is not an ideal moment for delicate diplomacy.
But the British are good at keeping up appearances. Mr Trump will certainly be served generous helpings of pomp and ceremony — with additional military trappings when he visits Portsmouth as part of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
British critics of Mr Trump are already complaining that it is wrong to recognise the US president in this fashion. But they are mistaken. State visits are designed to honour a country, not an individual — the clue is in the name. The US has been Britain’s closest ally since the 1940s, at least, and is likely to continue to play that role, long after Mr Trump has left office.
So it is completely correct for the British state to welcome the president of the US, with an appropriate fanfare. If Queen Elizabeth II can receive President Xi Jinping of China, she can certainly honour Mr Trump.
That said, it would be foolish to ignore the fact that Mr Trump’s “America first” agenda has opened up a series of divisions between Washington and London on vital international issues. These include the Iran nuclear deal, the Middle East peace process, the Paris climate accord and the future of the World Trade Organization. Collectively, these disagreements point to a profound difference of opinion about the importance of international law and treaties.
Perhaps the most significant divergence concerns western relations with China. So far, the UK government has refused to join America’s in effect quarantine of Huawei, the Chinese telecoms company. The British are open to incorporating Huawei into aspects of the country’s 5G network and still dream of a “golden era” in UK-Chinese economic relations. But the Trump administration has made clear that the Huawei issue could damage US-UK ties — in particular the sharing of secret intelligence that lies at the heart of the special relationship.
The British side has every right to diverge from the US on Huawei and other issues. But the UK government should guard against any tendency to assume that a position adopted by the Trump administration is inherently unreasonable. On Huawei, for example, the Americans have a strong case to make.
It is also important to remember that, despite the current range of disagreements between the US and the UK, there have also been recent occasions when the traditional closeness between the two countries has asserted itself. The Trump administration was robust in expelling Russian diplomats in support of Britain after the Skripal poisoning incident in Salisbury last year (as was the EU).
The daily interchange between Britain and America remains intense, spanning everything from finance and transport to security and the arts. This week’s state visit is unlikely to go down as a high point in US-UK relations. But it is far too soon to play the “Last Post” for the special relationship.
