Trump cancels London trip, blames Obama for 'bad deal'
United States President Donald Trump has confirmed that he has cancelled his trip to London, which was scheduled in February to help open a new US embassy there, blaming his predecessor Barack Obama for crafting a "bad deal".
"Reason I canceled my trip to London," Trump added, "is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for "peanuts", only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!" Trump wrote on Twitter on late Thursday night.
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Trump's comments came amid several media reports, which state that the White House was worried about mass protests during the president's visit.
Washington had signaled that US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson would instead inaugurate the new embassy, reported the Guardian, citing the government sources, as saying.
The United States had agreed to sell the current embassy building in Grosvenor Square to the Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Co, citing security and the environmental reasons.
The building will soon be turned into a luxury hotel.
Theresa May invited Trump for a state visit when she became the first world leader to visit the president in the White House a year ago.
Trump and May clashed in November when the latter condemned his decision to re-tweet anti-Muslim propaganda from a far-right group, Britain First.
She said, in a rare public rebuke, "I am very clear that re-tweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do."
--ANI
First published: 12 January 2018, 16:24 IST