January 25, 2021:Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken to Joe Biden for the first time since the new U.S. president’s inauguration.

Mr. Johnson said on Twitter that he looked forward to “deepening the longstanding alliance” between the U.K. and the U.S. as they drove a “green and sustainable recovery from Covid-19”.

A Downing Street spokesman said Mr. Johnson “warmly welcomed” the president’s decision to rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change and the World Health Organization.

“The prime minister praised President Biden’s early action on tackling climate change and commitment to reach net-zero by 2050,” the spokesman said.

The two leaders also talked about “the benefits of a potential free trade deal” between the U.K. and the U.S., with Mr. Johnson reiterating his intention “to resolve existing trade issues as soon as possible.”

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Biden “looked forward to meeting in person as the circumstances allow” and to working together during the forthcoming G7, G20, and COP26 summits, the spokesman said.

Mr. Johnson said it was a “big moment” for the U.K. and the U.S. and their “joint common agenda

.”

The U.S. president has previously said that he does not want a “guarded border” between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland following Brexit and that any UK-US post-Brexit trade deal had to be “contingent” on respect for the Good Friday Agreement.

The PM and Mr. Biden have never met in person, but Biden once referred to Mr. Johnson as a “physical and emotional clone” of Mr. Trump.