PM’s Biden talks canceled as ‘full bilateral meeting’ scheduled for Wednesday

Meeting between the Prime Minister and the President of the United States Joe Biden Sunday has been cancelled.

The leader will instead attend a “full bilateral meeting” at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, No 10 said.

The Prime Minister will continue to meet with Taoiseach Micheal Martin of Ireland, Prime Minister of Canada. Justin Trudeau and the Polish President Andrzej Duda of downing street Sunday, as planned.

Downing Street did not provide further details as to why the meeting with Mr Biden was canceled.

This weekend’s talks have been framed by No 10 as a chat where politics will likely be covered rather than a formal bilateral session.

The meeting with Mr. Biden would have come against the backdrop of the dispute over the Northern Ireland Protocol and the difficulty of working toward a trade deal with the White House.

Instead, the leader Liz Truss I’m crossing the Atlantic to New York next week to attend the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly.

A US official in London confirmed that Mr Biden and wife Jill will continue to attend the Queen’s funeral on Monday.

Truss is also scheduled to hold a telephone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Saturday night.

According to Downing Street, she met with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi, in the morning to offer his condolences following the Queen’s death. did.

There are no other changes to the weekend arrangement.

This comes after Truss met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the government’s Chevening Country Residence on Saturday.

Ahead of the meeting with Truss, Ardern said the death of the Queen and the new king would be “the focus of the conversation”, and that Ukraine and Britain’s free trade deal with New Zealand would likely be discussed as well. .

Talks between Mr Truss and Mr Albanese are also believed to have implications for trade, with the two countries signing a deal last year that the government estimated was worth £2.3bn to the British economy.

The Australian prime minister tweeted when his British counterpart won the Tory leadership election earlier this month:

Mr Albanese also signed a eulogy with partner Jody Haydon at Lancaster House during his visit to the UK.

He tweeted: “Today Jodi and I signed a condolence book at Lancaster House.

“I am grateful to be here to pay tribute to the Queen’s duty, faith, family and service to the Commonwealth during this time of great grief.”