The Trumps are having a ball!
President’s remarks on UK-EU plan puts May on defensive
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump threatened to provoke a political crisis by questioning if Brexit is delivering what citizens voted for, just hours before arriving in the UK.
Speaking from Brussels after the Nato summit yesterday, Mr Trump said: ‘I’m not sure if that’s what the people voted for’ when asked about the latest developments in Brexit.
The comments came on the same morning UK prime minister Theresa May delivered her longawaited White Paper, and right before he flew out to the UK for bilateral visit.
‘I’ve been reading a lot about Brexit over the last couple of days and it seems to be turning a little bit differently where they’re getting at least partially involved back with the European Union,’ he said at a press conference.
‘It’s not for me to say what they should be doing in the UK. I’d like to see them be able to work it out so it could go quickly, whatever they work out. ‘I would say that Brexit is Brexit,’ he said.
‘The people voted to break it up, so I would imagine that’s what they’ll do. Maybe they’ll take it a little bit of a different route. I don’t know if that’s what the people voted for.’
Trump’s view is particularly significant because a future US-UK trade deal could hinge on Britain diverging from EU standards, something which Theresa May’s White Paper appears to rule out.
Asked to comment, Mrs May said her plan ‘absolutely delivers on the Brexit people voted for’.
The European Parliament’s Brexit coordinator, Guy Verhofstadt, tweeted: ‘It would be better if Trump stayed out of EU-UK business. Brexit is already messy enough. Thanks but no thanks.’
Mr Trump’s visit is expected to be hit by mass protests, including a plan to fly a giant blimp shaped like a baby Trump over London – a move that was greenlit by the city’s Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The US president insisted he was ‘fine’ with protests, saying they happen all the time, before adding that he is well liked in the UK.
‘I believe that the people in the UK, Scotland, Ireland – as you know I have property in Ireland – I think that those people, they like me a lot’ he said, seemingly confusing Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. And they agree with me on immigration. And I think that’s why you have Brexit in the first place, because of immigration.’
Last night, Mrs May tried to mend fences with Mr Trump at a black-tie dinner at Blenheim Palace, telling him the UK and US remained ‘not just the closest allies, but the dearest of friends’.
Mrs May, who hopes to use talks with Mr Trump at Chequers today to make progress on a new trade deal, said Brexit presented an ‘unprecedented opportunity’ to work more closely with the US.
But Mrs May’s aides are nervous he will trash her plans during his visit. And they are also concerned he could meet up with Nigel Farage or Boris Johnson, who he described this week as a ‘great friend.’
The Trumps landed in Air Force One at Stansted Airport at lunchtime on Thursday to kick-start a four-day working visit to Britain.
‘Brexit is already messy enough’