Trump blasts May on Brexit
BLENHEIM PALACE: United States President Donald Trump said a free trade deal with Britain might be impossible if London went ahead with Prime Minister Theresa May’s proposals for postBrexit ties with the European Union, in damaging remarks that could widen domestic criticism of her plans.
In an interview with Britain’s Sun newspaper published yesterday, Trump said May’s plans for a businessfriendly Brexit would leave it too close to the EU to allow a new transatlantic trade deal to be struck.
Just hours earlier, at a lavish dinner to mark Trump’s first visit to Britain as president, May made a direct pitch for a deal with Washington. She praised the friendship between the two allies, glossing over Trump’s previous remarks that Britain was a ‘‘hot spot’’ in turmoil over Brexit.
Referring to May’s Brexit proposals, Trump told the Sun: ‘‘If
they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it will probably kill the deal.’’
Trump chastised May for ignoring his advice on Brexit and not making a credible threat to walk away from talks. ‘‘I would have done it much differently,’’ he told the Sun. ‘‘I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn’t listen to me.’’
His comments came after two senior ministers resigned in protest at May’s plans for trade with the EU after Britain leaves the bloc next March.
Trump said one of them, former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, ‘‘would be a great Prime Minister.’’
After the story was published, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the president ‘‘likes and respects Prime Minister May very much,’’ adding that he said in the inter view she ‘‘is a very good person’’, and that he ‘‘never said anything bad about her.’’
Trump was due to have lunch with May on Friday. Her office had no immediate reaction to his remarks, beyond referring back to her speech.
Her critics have said she reins in criticism of Trump because of the strong desire of many in her Conservative Party to reach a trade deal with the United States after Brexit.
Before the Sun interview was published, May addressed Trump and business leaders at a blacktie dinner at Blenheim Palace.
‘‘The spirit of friendship and cooperation between our countries, our leaders and our people, that most special of relationships, has a long and proud history,’’ she said, adding that the United States was ‘‘not just the closest of allies but the dearest of friends’’ she said, according to a text of her speech.
Outside the mansion a couple of thousand demonstrators lined the road and booed Trump’s arrival. It was one of more than a hundred protests police expected during Trump’s fourday trip.
Trump is scheduled today to have tea with Queen Elizabeth. He is then due to spend two days at golf courses he owns in Scotland before travelling to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. — Reuters