LEO: STAY OUT OF BREXIT, MR TRUMP
Taoiseach takes on US president who boasts of ‘brutal’ EU exit call
LEO Varadkar stood up to Donald Trump yesterday after the US president boasted that he had called for a ‘brutal’ Brexit.
In response to President Trump’s suggestion that there should be a break-up of the EU, our Taoiseach told him to stop interfering.
The comments from Mr Varadkar – who is normally cautious on the unpredictable president – came after an extraordinary series of outbursts by Mr Trump.
In as interview with the Sun newspaper in the UK, Mr Trump claimed the British prime minister had ‘wrecked Brexit’ – but later stood beside Theresa May and claimed comments about her in his recorded interview were ‘fake news’.
Mr Trump also threatened to ‘kill’ any future UK-US trade deal if Mrs May kept a close trading relationship with the EU.
And he launched a furious tirade against
the European Union, claiming its treatment of the US was ‘a disgrace’ and ‘horrible’ and that it would pay ‘a big price’ if it didn’t do as he suggested.
He threatened to ‘sort out’ EU officials that he will be meeting to discuss his tariff war, and claimed the European Union had systematically taken advantage of the US on trade.
The Taoiseach did not hold back when asked about Mr Trump’s Brexit comments.
‘I don’t think that when you are a foreign president or foreign prime minister that you should interfere in the internal politics of another country and I don’t think that’s helpful,’ he told reporters.
Mr Varadkar added: ‘His view seems to be that the people of the United Kingdom voted for a hard Brexit. I really think what Prime Minister May is trying to do is to reflect the view of the British people, which was barely to leave; not the Donald Trump view, which, in his words I think were, to break up the EU, which is not what the British people want and certainly not what Europe wants.’
Standing alongside the British prime minister at a press conference yesterday, Mr Trump said of Brexit: ‘I did give her a suggestion, I wouldn’t say advice, and I think she found it too brutal. That’s okay, I could see that. I could fully understand why she thought it was a little bit tough.
‘Maybe some day she’ll do that. If they don’t make the right deal she might very well do what I suggested. But it is not an easy thing.’
He added: ‘Look at the United States, how the European Union has taken advantage systematically of the United States on trade.
‘It’s a disgrace. So it’s not an easy negotiation.’
However, neither he nor Mrs May revealed what his ‘suggestion’ was. In the press conference at Chequers, which lasted almost an hour, he frequently contradicted himself.
He called comments about Mrs May in the Sun interview, in which he criticised her Brexit approach, ‘fake news’, despite the newspaper publishing an audio recording which confirms his on-the-record quotes.
He denied threatening to kill off a future trade deal with the UK if they proceed towards a soft Brexit, but admitted telling her: ‘Make sure that we can trade, that we don’t have any restrictions.’
Mrs May said she and Mr Trump had formally agreed to pursue an ambitious free trade agreement.
When Mr Trump was asked about his comments in praise of arch-Brexiteer Boris Johnson as a future prime minister, he simply doubled down on the comments. He also said immigration was ruining Europe, and cited it as the factor that won him the US presidency and swung the Brexit referendum.
‘I think it’s been very bad for Europe. Europe is a place I know very well and I think what has happened is very tough, a very tough situation. I just think it’s changing the culture, I think it’s a very negative thing for Europe,’ he said.
He insisted he had a ‘great relationship’ with German Chancellor Angela Merkel but claimed that immigration had ‘very much hurt Germany’.
Asked if she shared those views, Mrs May replied: ‘The UK has a proud history of welcoming people from all over the world… over the years overall immigration has been good for the UK. Different backgrounds, different outlooks, all contributing to society.’ The US President also claimed relationships between the US and the UK
were the best ever, calling them ‘the highest level of special’. He said that when he met Mrs May after the Sun interview she said: ‘Don’t worry, it’s only the press.’
Mr Trump’s visit to the UK prompted an estimated 250,000 people to protest in London.
In his threats to the EU yesterday, the president said: ‘We do not have a fair deal on trade with the EU right now. They treat the United States horribly and that’s going to change. And if it doesn’t change they’re going to have to pay a very big price, and they know what that price is.’
Yesterday the Taoiseach said there were no plans at present for the US president to visit Ireland.
Mr Trump was invited on a state visit by former taoiseach Enda Kenny during a St Patrick’s Day visit to the White House in his first year as president. And after his own visit to the White House last March, Mr Varadkar said Mr Trump had a ‘standing invitation’.
But yesterday the Taoiseach said: ‘There are no plans for the US president to visit Ireland.
‘I know that he’s visiting Europe but there are no plans at the moment for any visit to Ireland.’