The new U.S. embassy in London was opened as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited the 1 billion dollars building on Monday. The visit comes only days after President Donald Trump condemned the opening of the new diplomatic estate calling it a bad deal done by the Obama administration.
President Trump previously canceled his trip to London to open the new embassy because he did not want to endorse and approve a “bad deal agreed by the Obama administration to sell the old one for peanuts.”
Reuters reports that U.S. Ambassador Woody Johnson greeted Tillerson as workmen finished planting shrubs in the grounds of the new embassy. America’s top diplomat then met some of the marines who are stationed at the embassy.
Before Tillerson arrived at the new estate, the U.S. Ambassador said: “The embassy actually, is gonna really work.”
When asked if there is going to be a ribbon cutting ceremony the Ambassador responded: “At some point, we’re going to do it, but there’s no urgency to that. We’ll do it when the time is right.”
The project to change the location of the U.S. embassy from the exclusive Mayfair area of London to a site on the south bank of the Thames was started in 2008 under the presidency of George W. Bush.
The old embassy at Grosvenor Square was based there since 1938. During World War Two, General Dwight D. Eisenhower based his military headquarters on the premises of the square which contributed to the area be nicknamed “Little America”. After 80 years, this month the American flag was removed from the old location and relocated to the new.
According to Reuters, the new embassy is a veritable fortress set back at least 100 feet (30 meters) from surrounding buildings and incorporating living quarters for U.S. Marines permanently stationed inside.
The cost of the 1 billion dollars building was funded by the sale of several U.S. properties in London.
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