It was hectic on Monday morning for Peter Mandelson, who packed his home before heading to the Buckingham Palace for the audience with King Charles III, on the eve of the British ambassador to the United States.
But the stress of leaving London may not be compared to what Mr Mandelson is waiting for when Washington landed on Wednesday. Little British diplomats took a job full of political risk as Mr. Mandelson. His first day at the Embassy will coincide with the 18th day of President Trump in the oval office – and are already some of the American most interesting federations.
As he packed the boxes, Mr. Mandelson followed Mr. Trump’s latest exchange with Canada and Mexico, after imposing – then paused – Tripan tariffs. The European Union seemed to be next on cross -haired. Mr. Trump was softer towards Britain, suggesting to reporters that the contract could be “concluded”, although he claimed that his trade balance with the United States was “exit outside the line”.
“I will not tell the president his job when it comes to shops,” Mr. Mandelson said in an interview, hitting a carefully diplomatic tone. But he insisted: “We have a balanced trade relationship with the USA -is balanced in goods; he is balanced in services.”
For Mr. Mandelson, the trick will be for Britain to remain from Mr. Trump Fire line at the time when Prime Minister Keira Starmer’s government is trying to reset his relationship with the EU, to which Mr. Trump has long been hostile.
Mr. Mandelson was already convicted of the Fraction of Trump’s loyalist, who failed to break his nomination, but may have played his decision to apologize to Fox News last week because he handed over Mr. Trump during his first term as a “white nationalist” and “danger to the world.”
Mr. Mandelson knows the flow of trade flows: he served as a commissioner for the European Union trade from 2004 to 2008, and then led the British Committee for Trade until 2010. He said his experience would help him make a convincing case on behalf of Britain, which is a trade excess of $ 89 billion or a $ 14.5 billion deficit with the United States, depending on whether British or US statistics are cited. (The difference is partly resting in the way two sides treat offshore financial centers such as Jersey and Guernsey, namely the addiction to the crown.)
“If I can use that knowledge to improve some mutual understanding, I’ll do it,” he said. However, he quickly added: “I will not be the front of the argument against the president’s policies. My job is to act behind the scenes to explain to each other the policies of our countries.”
Such a low profile makes sense in Washington Mr. Trump, given the president’s history of conflict with great figures. But for Mr. Mandelson, it’s beyond character. In a political career in four decades, he has repeatedly pushed himself into the center of attention. As a young strategist for the Labor Party, he was known for his ruthless tactic, he was nicknamed Prince Darkness.
Since then, Mr. Mandelson, 71, has fell out of it and With a consecutive leader of work, from Tony Blair, for whom he used to be a reliable advisor, to Mr. Starmer, to whom he became close last July before winning his choice.
Mr. Starmer’s decision to appoint Mr. Mandelson in the place sensitive as an ambassador to the United States surprised some in London, given the reputation of the Prime Minister in the alert and reputation of Mr. Mandelson for Swagger and sharp elbows.
Several of these elbows were thrown at Mr. Trump. In addition to his commentary in the 2019 interview with Italian journalist, Mr. Mandelson wrote a 2018 column for London’s work, The Evening Standard, in which Mr. Trump took the task to impose tariff Kini. President, he wrote, was “A bully and a mercantile.”
Mr. Mandelson said, “I am completely exposed to the intellectual argument” about the negative effect of the tariff. But he said he regretted his choice of words about Mr. Trump. He accepted him to inflammation of the atmosphere in Britain, which then negotiated his exit from the European Union.
“In 2019, I was a little angry,” he said. “But no matter what, the words I used about the president were childish and wrong.”
Mr. Mandelson is also under pressure because he replaces Karen Pierce, a popular envoy known for building bridges to people in the orbit of Mr. Trump. When his appointment was published in December, Chris Lacivita, a Republican strategist who commanded Mr. Trump’s campaign, announced: “Replace a professional universally esteemed Amboa with absolute Moron – he should stay home!”
Among the rest of his critics were Stephen K. Bannon, former Mr. Trump’s main strategist, and Raheem Kassam, former editor of Breitbart News in London. Mr. Bannon said he opposed Mr. Mandelson’s business jobs in China, while Mr. Kassam said he was “the most effective operator of Tony Blair”, which he did not think as a compliment.
“Whether it is a rejection of his credentials or bringing him to the fifth, that is a victory,” said Mr. Kassam about the campaign against him.
Still, Mr. Mandelson did not attract the public opposition of other powerful Trump allies, such as the technology of billionaire Elon Musk or the hawk of Republicans like State Secretary Marc Rubi. She would barely be the first person to belittle Mr. Trump once to win forgiveness.
Mr. Mandelson emphasized his ties with the Silicon Valley, which he visited in 1998 as a minister to draw a white book on British competitiveness. He said that his experience in China, which had deepened over the years of running a consulting company, Global Counsel, would help nurture a common British and American competition with China.
“Our main goal must be to win in the race of advanced technology,” he said. “We can only share that race, not divided.”
Mr. Mandelson’s defenders say his credentials and a cosmopolitan way could like Mr. Trump, who could recognize his colleague in him. Although they do not know each other, they moved to similar social circles. Mr. Mandelson sits in the home of Lord, a kind of Sinekura that Mr. Trump could appreciate.
“London will hope to assign Mandelson’s political figure and intellect considered a compliment, and his experience of trade policy in Brussels is not disturbed but property,” said Peter Westmacott, who was an ambassador during Obama’s administration.
Kim Darroch, who served as an ambassador during the first term of Mr. Trump, said: “I doubt he has taken this job because he is an addict about a political game, and this is a path on the field. “
Mr. Darroch, however, offers a lesson about the risk of diplomacy during Trump’s Presidency. Was forced to resign in 2019 after publishing London’s work Confidential cables in which he offered an unfiltered, unobtrusive president.
Mr. Mandelson will try to avoid these traps, partly playing with Mr. Trump as a manufacturer of an agreement. He refused the proposals that Britain was supposed to choose between the United States and Europe. Britain, he said, was just trying to “edit” the wrong trade agreement negotiated by the conservative predecessors of Mr. Starmer.
“What we want with the EU is complementary now,” he said.
“We got a bad offer with the EU,” he added. “The president understands what a bad job looks like.”
