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US/UK: First Biden-Johnson face-to-face amid Brexit tensions
London is the first stop on an intense European tour for the US President
Joe Biden and Boris Johnson hold their very first face-to-face meeting on Thursday, during which they hope to agree on a new "Atlantic Charter."
The meeting is overshadowed by the delicate issue of Brexit and its consequences in Northern Ireland, however.
The US President arrived Wednesday evening in the United Kingdom for his first trip abroad, beginning an intense European tour with a meeting with the British Prime Minister in Carbis Bay, a small seaside resort in the south-west of England.
This is also where a G7 summit is due to be held from Friday to Sunday devoted, among other priorities, to the coronavirus pandemic and the climate crisis.
The US president will also take advantage of his long trip to Europe to meet his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin and unveil massive aid for the vaccination against the coronavirus in poor countries.
“The United States is back!” he said shortly after arriving in the United Kingdom, echoing the message he has been hammering out since taking office five months ago. "And democracies around the world are united to face the most difficult challenges."
Joe Biden will also visit Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on Sunday, then attend the NATO summit before another gathering with the European Union figures.
London hopes Thursday to develop a new "Atlantic Charter," designed on the model of that signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
It must be said that "while the world has changed since 1941, the values remain the same" in the defense of democracy, collective security and international trade, Downing Street said.