Stressing that the other EU countries would have something to gain from a deal being struck, May added: “This is not just about us, it’s actually about their relationships and trading within that European arena”.
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Britain retains its role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation military alliance as the EU’s biggest defence spender, its permanent veto-wielding seat on the U.N. Security Council and four submarines armed with nuclear ballistic missiles. Rather, it is a listening exercise for the British government to hear anxieties and views held in the United States about Brexit and its possible impact on trading relations.
In an interview to be broadcast on Wednesday’s Morning Edition on National Public Radio in the US, Mrs May said: “One of the purposes of my meeting with US investors, and that included US banks, was to hear from them what their concerns are and what their key issues are as we go forward for our negotiations”.
8,008 firms registered in other European Union or EEA member states also hold passports to do business in the UK.
Elsewhere in the region, Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Monday night in NY that any deal for the United Kingdom must be “inferior” to the benefits of membership.
Barnier, a conservative former minister and EU Commissioner, was appointed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to serve as his chief negotiator with Britain following the Brexit referendum in June.
“That’s what this government is doing, going out there around the world, batting for Britain”.
Given that Prime Minister Theresa May contradicted reports that eastern European economies could use its veto if negotiations about the Brexit, Tomas Prouza, Minister of European Affairs of the Czech Republic joined the chorus of EU members from former communist countries that rule out a preferential agreement with Britain.
During the trip, she’ll meet a series of fellow leaders, including from Pakistan, Japan, Egypt and Turkey.
But she said Britain would strengthen partnerships with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Commonwealth and the United Nations.
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Theresa May has also addressed the United Nations summit on refugees, announcing a new British troop deployment to Somalia to help root-out the al-Shabaab militant group. One official said 30 training teams will be deployed with up to 70 troops at a time.
The EEA is the trading club comprising the 28 European Union states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, three non-EU nations who can access the bloc’s single market in return for applying its rules and accepting the free movement of European Union citizens.
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“We must recognise that for too many of those men and women the increasing pace of globalisation has left them feeling left behind”, May, 59, will say.
