Press release: Foreign Secretary talks Middle East and Russia in Washington, welcomes US appetite for Free Trade Agreement post-Brexit

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt will travel to New York later today, following two days of high-level meetings in Washington with Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Chief of Staff to the President General John Kelly and Adviser to the President Jared Kushner.

The Foreign Secretary discussed a range of foreign policy priorities including: Iran and Russia; ways to support UN efforts to bring peace to Yemen; progress on the Middle East Peace Process; and how to ensure the UK-US alliance grows even stronger after the UK’s exit from the European Union.

Mr Hunt also met a number of US diplomats expelled from Russia following the decision by Washington to expel 60 Russian diplomats as part of the coordinated response to the Salisbury attacks.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:

The United States is our closest ally and I was delighted to meet Vice President Pence, Secretary Pompeo, and other key figures in the US administration to discuss the foreign policy challenges we face together. The UK and US, and our joint defence of our shared values, will always be crucial to maintaining the international rules-based system that has kept us safe for decades.

Our discussions showed real enthusiasm from the US administration, from the President down, for a UK/US Free Trade Agreement to be reached as soon as possible after we leave the EU, something that will benefit businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

We are enormously grateful for the solidarity shown by the US as they stood with us when a chemical weapon was inexcusably used in Salisbury earlier this year. Today I was able personally to thank US diplomats expelled from Russia in retaliation.

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