– By Arebiyo
This week has been a dramatic one in the United Kingdom due to the arrival of the POTUS; President Donald Trump. It has just been days since the whirlwind that is Donald Trump arrived in the UK for his first official visit since becoming the US president and what a couple of days it has turned out to be. The trip was delayed multiple times and it was downgraded to a working visit. (A state visit is a formal visit by a head of state and is normally at the invitation of the Queen, who acts on advice from the government. The Queen usually acts as the official host for the duration of the trip with the visitors staying either at Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle. A working visit like the one the POTUS is making may include some of the activities as a state visit though their accommodation organized or funded by the UK.)
President Trump fresh from a NATO summit in Brussels arrived at London on Thursday and after this trip, he’s bound to Helsinki to meet with the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin.
President Trump’s arrival has been met with a lot of hullabaloo because of the policies he stands for amongst which includes the migrant family separation,discrimination of transgender military personnel, changes to the laws protecting women’s sexual health, the Muslim ban, to the wall with Mexico. All these resulted in the gathering of over ten thousand people in Central London on July 13, 2018 to protest the visit. Quite notable in this protest is ‘The Trump Baby’ a 19.7 ft balloon depiction of the POTUS in a diaper terming him an adult-baby.
BRIEF HISTORY ON EU AND ‘BREXIT’
In 2004, the EU expanded eastwards by bringing in 10 new countries with a combined population of 74 million, some of these countries include Poland and Slovakia. Most European countries felt there was going to be a problem with mass migration and so strict migration checks were put in place to reduce the amount of people who were going into them except Britain.
This led to high percentage of immigrants within the UK which was among the top reasons for Britain wanting out of the EU because non-UK citizens were coming in and using up the already scarce public resources like National Health Service. Another reason they wanted out was an economics issue. UK sends money to Brussels which is the HQ of the EU, which then redistributes it to the various other states. Most Britons equated it to funding the economy of other states which they had issues with.
The first referendum was held under the tenure of the former Prime Minister David Cameron which was to see whether Scotland would exit or stay as a part of the Great Britain. Scotland voted to stay. Cameron’s popularity soared afterwards as he supported this. After this, tension started rising as Britain felt most of the policies the EU were passing weren’t really beneficial to them. This tension coupled with the mass immigration that already happened was enough to tilt the already agitated British citizens.
The second referendum was held also under the tenure of former PM David Cameron in 2016 to deliberate on ‘Brexit’ which is a word coined from Britain’s exit from the EU. Cameron already popular due to the first referendum wasted no time in calling for the second in which he supported Britain being part of the EU. This time he lost and he resigned shortly after.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DONALD TRUMP AND ‘BREXIT’
Trump’s aim is to “strengthen and nurture” the U.S relationship with Britain accrding to a U.S official. Another source claims that Trump is still interested in a bilateral trade with the U.K which can’t be finalized until Britain exits the EU.
Mr Trump described Brexit as a “very tough situation….between the borders and entries into the countries and all of the things”, saying: “The only thing I ask is that she work it out so that we can have a very even trade.”
