On Monday morning, he was feverish for Peter Mandleson, who was expressing his home before heading to Buckingham Palace to an audience with King Charles III, on the eve of becoming an ambassador to Britain in the United States.
But the pressure of leaving London may not be compared to what Mandson is waiting for when he landed in Washington on Wednesday. Few British diplomats take over a political risky job such as Mr. Mandalson. His first day in the embassy will coincide with President Trump’s eighteenth day in the Oval Office – and indeed, some of America’s most powerful alliances.
While he was crossing the boxes, Mr. Mandson was watching the last exchange of Mr. Trump with Canada and Mexico, after imposing it – then stopped the customs tariff. The European Union looked next to its cross. Mr. Trump was kind in Britain, indicating correspondents that an agreement could be reached, although he claimed that its trade balance with the United States was “a way out of the line.”
“I will not tell the president when it comes to trade,” said Mr. Mandson in an interview. But he insisted, “We have a balanced trade relationship with the United States that it is balanced in goods; it is balanced in services.”
For Mr. Mandalson, the trick will be to remove Britain from the fire line of Mr. Trump-and do so at a time when the government of Prime Minister Kiir will try to re-control its relationship with the European Union, to the European Union, to the European Union, to the European Union, to the European Union that was Mr. Trump for a long time hostile.
Mr. Mandalson has already been convicted by a faction of Trams loyalists, who failed to nominate him, but he may have played in his decision to apologize for Fox News last week because of his extraction from Mr. Trump during his first term as a “white national” and “danger to the world “.
Mr. Mandalson defines the peculiarities and generalities of commercial flows: he held the position of Commissioner of Trade in the European Union from 2004 to 2008, then he chaired the British Trade Council until 2010. He said that he hopes that his experience will help him in providing a convincing case on behalf of Britain, which runs either a trade surplus $ 89 billion or $ 14.5 billion deficit with the United States, depending on whether one cited British or American statistics. (The difference is partially dependent on how the two sides deal with external financial centers such as Jersey and Guernsey, the dependency of the crown.)
“If I can use this knowledge to enhance some mutual understanding, I will do it,” he said. However, he was quickly adding, “I will not be in front of the house to present arguments against the president’s policies. My mission is to act behind the scenes to explain the policies of our countries to each other.”
Such low attention is logical in Washington, Mr. Trump, given the president’s history of engagement with big personalities. But it is out of the character of Mr. Mandson. In a four -decade political profession, he has repeatedly pushed himself in the spotlight. As a young strategic expert for the Labor Party, he was known for his harsh tactics, and he won the title of Prince of Darkness.
Since then, Mr. Mandalson, 71, has fallen for successive work leaders, from Tony Blair, who was previously a reliable advisor, to Mr. Starmer, who became close before his electoral victory last July.
Mr. Starmer’s decision was surprised to appoint Mr. Mandalson to a sensitive position like the US ambassador to London, given the reputation of the Prime Minister with caution and the reputation of Mr. Mandalson in Swagger and Sharge CBOWS.
A few of these attached to Mr. Trump were thrown. In addition to his comments in an interview with an Italian journalist in 2019, Mr. Mandleson wrote a column in 2018 for the London paper, The Evening Standard, where Mr. Trump took a task to impose a customs tariff on China. The president wrote was a “The Fatwa and the Retail.”
“I am completely standing alongside the intellectual argument” about the negative impact of definitions. But he said he sorry for his choice of words about Mr. Trump. He ascended to the inflamed atmosphere in Britain, which was then negotiated on his exit from the European Union.
“In 2019, I was a little angry,” he said. “However, the words I used in the president were childish and wrong.”
Mr. Mandleson is also under pressure because he replaces Karen Peres, the famous envoy known for its construction on the orbit of Mr. Trump. When his appointment was announced in December, Chris Lacovita, a Republican strategic expert who photographed Mr. Trump’s campaign, was published, “The internationally professional Ombo replacement with an absolute concept – he must stay at home!”
Among his critics was Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategy of Mr. Trump, and Rahim Kassam, the former editor in Prosta News in London. Mr. Bannon said that he objected to Mr. Mandason’s commercial dealings in China, while Mr. Massam said he was “the most operator of Tony Blair,” which he did not mean as a compliment.
Mr. Massam said of the campaign against him: “Whether it is a refusal of his statement to his approval, or bring him to the heel, this is a victory.”
However, Mr. Mandson did not attract any general opposition from Trump’s powerful allies, such as Elon Musk, or Skille Republicans such as Foreign Minister Marco Rubio. He would hardly be the first person to distort Mr. Trump to win tolerance.
Mr. Mandleson emphasized his relations with the Silicon Valley, which he visited as a minister in 1998 to put a white paper on Britain’s competitiveness. He said that his experience in China, which was deepened during years of the management of a consulting company, the global advisor, will help him to care for the joint British and American competition with China.
“Our main goal should be to win the advanced technology race,” he said. “We can only win this race together, and do not divide.”
Defenders of Mr. Mandalson say his heavy credentials and global reliability can appeal to Mr. Trump, in which he may realize a player. While they do not know each other, they have moved in similar social circles. Mr. Mandalson sits in the House of Lords, a kind of sin that Mr. Trump may also appreciate.
“London will hope to look at the appointment of a political figure of Mandason’s position and her thinking as courtesy, and his experience in commercial policy in Brussels is not an obstacle but one of the assets,” said Peter Westumakot, who was an ambassador during the Obama administration.
“I think he has held this job because he is addicted to the political game, and this is the way to return to this field. He was involved unabated in it, preferably unabated around it and exceptionally good at it,” said Kim Darwach, who served as the ambassador during the first term of Mr. Trump, said. “
However, Mr. Darush gives a lesson in the dangers of diplomacy during the Trump presidency. He was forced to resign in 2019 after publishing a secret paper in London, where he was offered to the president.
Mr. Mandson will try to avoid these traps, partly by playing for Mr. Trump as a deals maker. He rejected the suggestions Britain needs to choose between the United States and Europe. He said that Britain was only trying to “arrange” a defective commercial deal negotiated by Mr. Starmer Conservatives.
“What we want with the European Union is complementary to the United States,” he said.
“We got a bad deal with the European Union,” he added. “The president understands how the bad deal appears.”