Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Getty Images

Rishi Sunak is making his first trip to the White House as prime minister this week. His bilateral sit-down with President Joe Biden will be the fourth meeting between the two leaders.

It is a relationship that began with Biden mistakenly called his British counterpart “Rashee Sanook” during remarks shortly after Sunak became prime minister. The error was met with derision by the president’s US political opponents, but the average American would be hard-pressed to come up with the name of the new British leader or pick him out in a crowd.

After the larger-than-life Boris Johnson, who – accurately or not – was viewed by many Americans as a British embodiment of the political currents behind Donald Trump’s rise, and the short-but-tumultuous tenure of Liz Truss, most Americans could be forgiven for losing track of who currently occupies No 10 Downing Street.

By all accounts, however, the US president and the British prime minister have developed a comfortable working relationship – and this “official working visit” is a reflection of that.

Discussions on the war in Ukraine, where the interests of the two nations have closely aligned, will be at the top of the agenda, while Biden may be less keen to discuss trade, artificial intelligence and other issues of importance to Sunak.

It appears that one source of particular concern for Biden, the post-Brexit status of Northern Ireland, has been somewhat resolved by Sunak’s trade negotiations with the EU.

That leaves a US-UK relationship that is stable but unexciting and a Biden-Sunak meeting that will barely register as a blip on the radar screens of most Americans.

On Wednesday evening, Sunak attended the Washington Nationals versus Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game in the US capital.

He apparently declined to throw the ceremonial first pitch, and - after the UK and US anthems were played by a military band - said to Nats manager Dave Martinez: "They should put a (cricket) bat in my hand.

"That's more my thing."

Image source, Reuters

Chris Mason
Political editor

This is the fourth time in as many months that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has spent time with President Joe Biden. They met in San Diego in March, Belfast in April, Hiroshima in May - and now Washington in June.

I have been in tow each time, and it's been fascinating to get a glimpse of their growing relationship.

And quite some growing it's had to do. When Sunak became prime minister, Biden, in congratulating him, managed to call him Rashee Sanook, external.

Not long after that, Sunak acknowledged to me that the UK's reputation had "taken a bit of a knock" courtesy of the rolling political chaos of much of 2022.

Core to his brand as prime minister is attempting to personify the opposite: hoping to be seen as dependable, believable, credible, trustworthy.

• Read more from Chris: What Sunak is trying to achieve in the US

What we're building up to today is Sunak and Biden meeting later at the White House. They'll hold talks before taking questions at a news conference.

A few subjects likely to be on the agenda…

• Ukraine: Sunak says the leaders will discuss longer-term security arrangements for the war-torn country
• Green subsidies: Some British ministers say Biden's massive investment in green industries is harmful to world trade. Sunak has said “subsidy races” are not a solution to hitting climate goals
• Economic security: Sunak says the two countries need to build an alliance“that protects our economies” - Downing street says this includes protecting industries and supply chains from hostile states
• Artificial intelligence: The UK will host the first global summit on AI safety in the autumn, and says the PM will work with Biden to“cement our joint leadership in the technologies of the future”
• Nato: There’s speculation the PM will use the opportunity to encourage Biden to back UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to be the next Nato secretary general

And NOT on the agenda…

• Free trade deal: A full-blown UK-US free trade agreement is not expected to be discussed. Instead the UK is working to establish deals with individual states as well as agreements on specific industries

Read more here

Rob Corp
Live reporter

Welcome to our coverage of day two of Rishi Sunak’s trip to the US, where he’s due to hold talks with President Joe Biden during his first visit to the White House as UK prime minister.

Behind the smiles and handshakes there are some tough issues on the agenda - including the war in Ukraine, the massive new US subsidies for green technology and the risks of artificial intelligence.

I’m here in London with Heather Sharp. Our colleagues in the US - North America editor Sarah Smith and Brandon Livesay - are on hand, and our political editor Chris Mason is travelling with the PM.

We’re poised to bring you updates and analysis as the day unfolds, so stay with us.

Image source, Reuters