Boris Johnson presented Joe Biden with a photo of an anti-slavery campaigner to mark the pair’s first meeting.
The US president met the Prime Minister in Cornwall on his first overseas visit since entering the White House.
The pair are in Carbis Bay near St Ives ahead of the G7 summit of world leaders, with discussions expected to include climate change, international trade and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Johnson gave Mr Biden a framed photograph of a mural of Frederick Douglass, a former slave who became a leading figure in the 19th-century abolitionist movement in the United States.
Douglass travelled to Ireland and Great Britain in the 1840s on a speaking tour.
The image, painted by Ross Blair, is part of a mural trail around Edinburgh and the photograph was taken by Melissa Highton – a UK-US dual national.
First Lady Jill Biden was given a first edition of Daphne du Maurier’s The Apple Tree.
Downing Street said the choice was to reflect Du Maurier’s Cornish links – she lived in the county and drew inspiration for many of her works from the surroundings.
