Mandelson: People-person Trump may cut tariffs again

Peter Mandelson has described Donald Trump as a "people person" who could cut levies on British goods again after extraordinary scenes that saw the two men hold hands in the Oval Office this week.

- KATE DEVLIN

The UK’s ambassador in Washington said he was looking forward to negotiating with the US to “bring down further tariffs”. He also revealed that when he first walked into the White House, President Trump said to him: “God, you’re a good-looking fellow, aren’t you?”

And he described Mr Trump as a “people person” who takes people at “face value”, saying that the president had judged him on his merits. The Independent revealed earlier this year that President Trump had been considering rejecting Lord Mandelson as ambassador.

In an interview with BBC’s Newsnight, the Labour grandee said that Thursday’s historic UK-US trade deal represented a “platform for going further and opening up more trade opportunities”.