Brexit: Donald Trump has 'huge appetite' for US to sign free trade deal with UK

Following a meeting in the White House yesterday, Mr Raab said the president had been "effusive in his warmth" towards the UK.

"We had a preliminary chat, he called me into the Oval Office," Mr Raab said.

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US vice-president Mike Pence (left) at his meeting with UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab

"He was effusive in his warmth for the United Kingdom. It's amazing to hear an American president talk about our country in such warm terms.

"He expressed his high regard for Boris Johnson as a Prime Minister.

"We talked about all the things that we want to do together in the post-Brexit vision for the UK, whether it's getting a free trade deal done, and there's obviously going to be a lot of work to make that happen.

"There's a huge appetite on both sides to achieve that. And then all the range of security issues that we share in common and want to make sure we strengthen the relationship and build our capacity to tackle those issues together."

Earlier, in a Twitter posting, Mr Raab said he had held "wide-ranging talks" with US vice-president Mike Pence on a series of issues including China, Iran and a post-Brexit trade deal.

No further details of the meeting with Mr Trump were immediately available.

Mr Raab is due to have further discussions today with other senior administration figures including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton.

He flew into the US capital following talks on Tuesday in Toronto with Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland and is due to travel on to Mexico following his meetings in Washington.