However, in what could prove to be a strong first step, Burnham has signaled an openness to discussing oil and gas production in the North Sea. “I don’t have a sort of fixed position,” he said earlier this month.
Andrew Roe-Crines, a senior lecturer in political communication at the University of Liverpool, tells TIME that despite their ideological differences, he predicts Burnham will want to “highlight areas of mutual interest” before meeting Trump.
Some of these areas could be “economic interests, security sharing, and broader ideological alignments of freedom and Western values,” he says.
Tensions have been high between Trump and the alliance, as the U.S. President has repeatedly lambasted NATO nations who refused to allow the U.S. access to joint bases for offensive strikes and conflict-related activities during the Iran war.
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