Trump holds joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May

The second day of President Trump’s state visit to the U.K. started with business before shifting into politics as he met with outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May. The two leaders were to hold a joint news conference in London on Tuesday, just three days before May’s resignation. The British Prime Minister was forced to announce that she would step down after parliament refused three times to back her proposed plan for the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.

“I feel badly for Theresa,” the president told reporters on the White House South Lawn after May announced her resignation. “I like her very much. She’s a good woman. She worked very hard. She’s very strong. She decided to do something that some people were surprised at, some people weren’t. It’s for the good of her country. But I like her very much.”

Mr. Trump, who criticized May’s handling of the “Brexit” negotiations with Europe, suggesting she should have taken a harder line with Brussels, defended his decision to wade into U.K. politics on Sunday.

“People ask me questions like you you’re asking me a question, don’t ask me a question if you don’t want me to talk about it,” Mr. Trump told reporters on the White House South Lawn.Mr. Trump’s first event on Tuesday was a business round table. May was to attend, along with Mr. Trump’s daughter and adviser Ivanka. With the U.K. scheduled to leave the EU trading bloc on Oct. 31, British politicians and businesses are expected to push for a wide trade deal with the U.S.Mr. Trump and May’s joint news conference was expected to begin at about 8:45 a.m. Eastern.

Joint press conference beginning shortly

Journalists are gathering for the joint press availability, scheduled for 8:45 a.m. Eastern.

Both British and American flags adorn the stately room.

While reporters are sure to ask questions about the U.K.-U.S. relationship, anything is possible in these news conference settings with a president who likes to speak his mind.

First Lady hosts garden party at 10 Downing

First Lady Melania Trump hosted a reception with the prime minister’s husband Philip for 10 Downing and British embassy families during the president’s day of meetings at the official residence. There was a mix of British and American lawn games and food at the lighthearted event breaking up a day of political talks between the two nations.

The first lady met with young children waving British and American flags and signed a banner commemorating the state visit.

Sadiq Khan calls Trump a “poster boy” for far right

“I’m a bit surprised that the President of the USA would, frankly speaking, behave like an 11-year-old and resort to name calling,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan told CBS News partner network BBC News when reacting to Mr. Trump’s tweets about him. Khan said despite their war of words, he’d welcome a “discussion about some of the issues we disagree about.”

But Kahn said he was concerned that the leader of the U.S. “seems a poster boy for far right movements across the globe” suggesting his rhetoric and past ban on travel from Muslim-majority countries “played into the hands of extremists.”Khan urged the prime minister to express to Mr. Trump during their day of meetings “her concerns in relation to some of the things he’s said and done.”

Trumps, Mays view copy of Declaration of Independence

During a tour of 10 Downing, Prime Minister Theresa May, Philip May, President Trump and the first lady viewed a copy of the Declaration of Independence.

Thousands protest as Trump arrives for May meeting

As the Trumps arrived, an audible hum of chants rang out in the distance as thousands gathered in London’s Trafalgar Square, just a 3 minute drive down the street from 10 Downing.

Crowds of protesters were seen with signs demonstrating against the Trump administration while a giant balloon of the president wearing diapers dubbed “Trump Baby” soared overhead. The anti-Trump protests are expected to continue throughout much of the day as the president concludes his State visit.

Trump arrives at 10 Downing

The President and first lady arrived at 10 Downing Street and were greeted by Prime Minister May and her husband Philip May. The group exchanged pleasantries and posed for photos before entering the building for private meetings.

Staff at the residence rolled out the red carpet for the president as Larry the cat, a common presence outside 10 Downing Street was seen resting in a window sill during the welcome ceremony.

White House adviser Jared Kushner was seen arriving several moments before the president entered the building. White House officials including the president’s daughter Ivanka Trump, Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and National Security Adviser John Bolton arrived for the day’s events shortly after the president entered. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is also slated to attend.

The president is now expected to participate in an expanded bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister.

Trumps head to Downing Street

President Trump left the business roundtable meeting on Tuesday and headed for the seat of British political power, the prime minister’s official residence at 10 Downing Street.

Business round table

Mr. Trump sat opposite Prime Minister Theresa May at one of the royal palaces in London on Tuesday, each leader flanked by economic advisers and company bosses from some of the biggest businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

According to the AFP news agency, bosses from corporate giants BAE Systems, GlaxoSmithKline, Barclays, Reckitt Benckiser, JP Morgan, Lockheed Martin and Goldman Sachs International were among those expected to attend the meeting.

Speaking before his departure from Washington, Mr. Trump said Britain’s leaders “want to do trade with the United States and I think there’s an opportunity for a very big trade deal at some point in the near future.”

The U.K.’s scheduled departure from the EU may leave it free to strike its own unilateral trade deals around the world, but it will also leave it without the huge collective bargaining power of membership in the 28-nation trade bloc. In an interview with British newspaper The Sunday Times, Mr. Trump said the U.K. should “walk away from Brexit talks” if the European Union doesn’t give it what it wants.

“We are your largest partner. You’re our largest partner. A lot of people don’t know that,” Mr. Trump said to May as the meeting began, noting that he believed there was a “great opportunity to enlarge that, in light of what’s happening.”

Mr. Trump’s declaration got the facts ironically wrong, however. The U.S.’s biggest trading partner is the European Union collectively, not Great Britain on its own, which is only the second largest economy in the trading bloc behind Germany.

But what Mr. Trump’s administration might demand from Britain in exchange for a trade deal has already proven controversial in the U.K.

To strike a trade deal with the much larger U.S., the Trump administration has indicated that Britain may be asked to open its cherished national health care system, the NHS, up to American investors. Opposition Labour Party lawmakers were quick to point to Ambassador Woody Johnson’s remarks as evidence that the Conservative-led government was willing to “sell” Britain’s social healthcare system.

Johnson told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that, “in a trade deal, all things that are traded would be on the table.” Asked by the host if that specifically meant healthcare, Johnson replied: “I would think so.”Johnson also appeared to confirm fears among some Britons that in order to strike a deal with the U.S., post-Brexit Britain might need to lower some of the food safety standards in place under EU law, which ban genetically modified organisms and some pesticides and practices used widely in U.S. agriculture and food production.”There will have to be some deal where you give the British people a choice,” he told Marr’s audience. “American products can come over and be allowed to come over. Agriculture is extremely important to the president and to any American president … but if the British people like it, they can buy it, if they don’t like it, they don’t have to buy it.”

Protests planned for Trump’s visit

The president’s trip to the U.K. has been met with protests, and the president has delivered some fiery words of his own. Anti-Trump protests were planned Tuesday in London, including a robotic “Trump” sat upon a toilet that will be paraded around the city — along with the infamous “Trump baby” balloon.

Mr. Trump’s spat with London Mayor Sadiq Khan has played out on Twitter. On Monday, the president compared him to one of his arch rivals, Bill de Blasio.

“I don’t think much of him,” the president said of Khan Sunday night. “I think that he’s the twin of de Blasio, except shorter.” Mr. Trump called Khan a “stone cold loser.”

Khan criticized Mr. Trump in 2016 for his views on Islam, calling Mr. Trump “ignorant.” At the time, Mr. Trump responded by questioning Khan’s IQ.

Despite low approval ratings in the U.K., the president tweeted that he thought the media would have to work “hard” to find people demonstrating against his presence in the British capital. Over the past couple days, a handful of demonstrators have popped up in London wearing Mr. Trump’s trademark “MAGA” hats, supporting his visit.

One British man, wearing the hat near the protesters as they inflated “Trump baby” on Tuesday, told CBS News’ Haley Ott that he hoped to encourage people to have, “a bit of civil discourse, find some common ground.”

Trump’s visit so far has been ceremonial

The first day of Mr. Trump’s visit to the U.K. was largely ceremonial, and the White House has laid out few objectives for his first official state visit to Britain.

Mr. Trump received a Winston Churchill book from Queen Elizabeth II, with whom he also had lunch on Monday. He then had tea with Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla. On Monday night he took part in a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, during which he and the queen delivered speeches.

“Mr. President, as we look to the future, I am confident that our common values and shared interests will continue to unite us,” the queen said. “Tonight we celebrate an alliance that has helped to ensure the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades, and which I believe will endure for many years to come.”

For his part, the president expressed gratitude for the queen’s hospitality and remembered those who lost their lives on D-Day, the pivotal Allied invasion of northern France during World War II, the 75th anniversary of which is on Thursday.

“The bond between our nations was forever sealed in that great crusade,” the president said in his speech. “As we honor our shared victory and heritage, we affirm the common values that will unite us long into future.”