Theresa May will push for a strong trade deal with the US after Brexit when she meets Donald Trump in New York.

The Prime Minister is holding talks with the president on Wednesday on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly and will focus on future trading relations.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Trump is chairing a UN Security Council session on counter-proliferation where Mrs May will speak about tackling the increased use of chemical weapons.

Donald Trump and Theresa May
Theresa May will be talking trade with Donald Trump Buckinghamshire (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The one-to-one meeting later that evening will also include discussions on foreign affairs.

Mrs May told American reporters ahead of the visit that she did “trust” Mr Trump.

“Well, yes,” she told CBS This Morning. “I mean, we work together. We have a special relationship. This is two people reflecting as leaders of their two countries – the relationship that those two countries have and have built up over a number of years.

“And as we work together – let me give you a very good example. You know, I spoke to President Trump after the Salisbury attack took place. He said he would expel Russian intelligence officers. He did it.”

Mr Trump publicly apologised to Mrs May when he visited London in July after giving an explosive newspaper interview saying the PM’s Brexit plans would kill off a trade deal with America and predicting Boris Johnson would be a “great prime minister”.

The president also gave Mrs May advice on how to handle Brexit, urging her to sue the EU rather than go into negotiations.

Their meeting is one of the final engagements on Mrs May’s schedule during the two-day trip.

A senior government official said: “They both have a strong commitment to securing a strong UK-US free trade agreement once we have left.

“There is work on-going already in relation to technical talks with the US and a host of other countries.”