'Bully' rebuke to Trump over China strikes blow to Mandelson's hopes of US ambassador role

Peter Mandelson's position as the frontrunner to be US ambassador has been questioned after it emerged he criticised Donald Trump for being a "bully" and too hostile towards China on trade policy.

- Rowena Mason Eleni Courea

Critics of Beijing raised concerns over the Labour peer's suitability for the job given his repeated defence of engagement with China, while Trump's administration is hawkish towards the rival trading power.

Mandelson is understood to be in pole position for the Washington job, on a shortlist with David Miliband and the Labour peer Cathy Ashton. He has been even-handed when talking about Trump in recent months.

But in 2018, he wrote an article arguing Trump's hostility towards China was putting free trade at risk. "It is absurd to imagine putting a country of such weight in the naughty corner," he said of US relations with China. "It is also necessary to recognise Mr Trump's behaviour for what it is: he is a bully and a mercantilist who thinks the US will gain in trade only when others are losing.