US security advisor John Bolton speaking after meetings in London
He says:
- He did not talk about Hong Kong as part of general discussion about China. Says "we will continue to be in touch on it"
- expecting Chinese delegation in September although Chinese have not said yes or no
- he told UK officials he was happy to continue discussion with British technical experts on Huawei
- British officials stressed to him today there leaving the EU on October 31. They are ready to go
- is summarized with British officials the state of play in the US negotiations with China on trade
- trade negotiators will probably identify sectors of UK – US trade deal they can make progress on: we are prepared to proceed as rapidly as the Brits are
- he believes that will be overwhelmingly bipartisan support in US Congress for a trade deal with Britain
- he told British officials the US looks forward to more extensive talks on Iran but understood priority is exiting EU on October 31
- he told British officials it might be better to defer talks on issues like Iran, China and Huawei until later
- he told UK officials were not here to pressure you on this.... We want to be helpful on Brexit
