(Adds May comments)LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister TheresaMay rebutted U.S. President Donald Trump's warning about thefuture of anglo-American trade, saying a trade deal was possibleand that work towards it was making good progress.Trump said on Monday the agreement by which the UnitedKingdom will leave the European Union may make trade betweenWashington and London more difficult - handing ammunition toMay's critics at home who want to block the Brexit deal. She said on Tuesday: "We will have an independent tradepolicy and we will be able to do trade deals with countriesaround the rest of the world," citing a political declaration onfuture relations with the EU agreed in Brussels on Sunday.
"As regards the United States, we've already been talking tothem about the sort of agreement that we could have in thefuture," she told broadcasters. "We've got a working group setup which is working very well and has met many times."May's spokesman said there had already been positive andproductive discussions on an ambitious trade deal through jointworking groups and cited public consultations on both sides ofthe Atlantic as signs of progress.Asked whether May planned to hold a bilateral meeting withTrump at a G20 summit later this week, the spokesman said therewere no such plans."It's not something we've requested," he said. "We've metwith the president on a number of occasions in recent months."With May facing a difficult battle to get parliament toapprove her deal, Trump's words struck at the heart of thegovernment's key argument for the current Brexit accord: that itwould allow Britain to strike new global trade deals withoutabruptly shutting off access to EU markets.
Alongside the prime minister's words, the governmentpublished a "press rebuttal" blog expanding on her arguments andsetting out Britain's plans to pursue a range of post-Brexittrade deals and play an active role on the world stage."After we leave the EU in March next year, we will take upour independent seat at the (World Trade Organisation) where wewill play an active role in negotiations and be strong advocatesfor the rules-based global trading system," the blog said.
(Reporting by William James, editing by Stephen Addison)