President Trump sought today to tamp down tensions with British Prime Minister Theresa May, saying that “she is doing a terrific job,” just hours after publication of an interview in which he questioned May’s handling of Brexit and threatened to upend the trade relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.

President Trump and Prime Minister May were scheduled today to discuss trade, security, and NATO spending among other issues.

May’s approval ratings are low, and the U.S. is struggling with its scheduled exit from the European Union. “We want to trade with the U.K. and the U.K. wants to trade with us,” the president affirmed at a joint news conference with Prime Minister May today.  The president also backed away from his criticism of how May in handling Britain’s exit from the European Union, which he said is “very complicated and not an easy negotiation.” “Whatever you do is okay with us.  Just make sure we can trade together, ” Trump said.

During the news conference, President Trump also said he plans to raise a range of topics in his summit on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, including nuclear proliferation, which the president said he considers the largest problem facing the globe.  The president also said he would raise the issue of Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election.

Prime Minister May said she welcomes Trump’s meeting with Putin so long as Trump enters from a position of strength and reflects the unity of NATO achieved at its summit this week in Brussels.

On Thursday this week, President Trump jolted a NATO summit with a last-minute demand that leaders immediately pour billions into their military budgets, raising questions about his commitment to the alliance, before he reiterated that the United States would still fight on behalf of its Western allies. “I believe in NATO,” Trump declared in a news conference.

Trump’s demand that allies bolster their defense budgets to 2 percent of gross domestic product by January — an acceleration by six years of their current commitments — stunned his fellow leaders, who would have had to scramble their national spending to make the goal. Some diplomats perceived his comments as threatening a U.S. withdrawal from NATO.

“Everyone has agreed to substantially up their commitment. They’re going to up it at levels that they’ve never thought of before,” President Trump told reporters.