Trump's UK visit later this year will be a working rather than state trip, says Downing Street

US President is expected to travel to Britain in the second half of 2018

Mr Trump said he expects a "tremendous" increase in trade with the UK (AP)

Donald Trump's invitation to the UK later this year will be a working trip rather than a state visit, Downing Street has said.

A Government source confirmed the event would come without the pomp and trappings of an official state visit.

"We are working towards a working visit initially," the source said.

Confirmation from No 10 that Mr Trump's visit will take the form of a less prestigious working trip comes after he met Theresa May at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The US President is expected to travel to the UK in the second half of 2018.

"The PM and President concluded by asking officials to work together on finalising the details of a visit by the President to the UK later this year," Downing Street said earlier in the day.

The lack of clarity on the type of visit forced Government officials to later clarify that the trip would not take the form of a state visit, which involves a ceremonial welcome from the Queen and a state banquet at Buckingham Palace.

The development comes just weeks after Mr Trump cancelled a proposed trip to officially open the US Embassy in London.

Ms May extended an invitation for a state visit when she became the first foreign leader to visit the Trump White House in January 2017.

The planned trip to open the embassy would have been a lower-key official visit but Mr Trump cancelled it, publicly blaming a poor financial deal for the property which he said was in an "off location" south of the Thames - although allies indicated that possible protests could have been a factor.

Brexit has heightened the importance of the UK-US "special relationship", with the prospect of a transatlantic trade deal a major goal for Ms May.

Mr Trump said he expects a "tremendous" increase in trade with the UK as a result of talks which he said were getting under way.

The US President sought to kill off suggestions of a rift with Mrs May sparked by her rebuke over his retweet of videos posted by a UK far-right group and the cancelled embassy visit.

Declaring that he wanted to correct the "false rumour" of a transatlantic falling-out, he assured her: "We love your country."

Britain and the US are "joined at the hip" militarily and America will always be ready to "fight for you", he added.