I would be ‘tougher’ than May in Brexit talks: Trump
london — US President Donald Trump would take a “tougher” approach to Brexit negotiations than Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, he said in a television interview was to be broadcast later on Sunday.
In the interview with British channel ITV, Trump said the European Union was “not cracked up to what it’s supposed to be” and claimed he had predicted the result of the June 2016 referendum in which Britons voted to leave the EU. Trump was elected to the US presidency later the same year.
When asked if May was in a “good position” regarding the ongoing Brexit talks, Trump replied: “Would it be the way I negotiate? No, I wouldn’t negotiate it the way it’s negotiated ... I would have had a different attitude.” Pressed on how his approach would be different, he said: “I would have said the European Union is not cracked up to what it’s supposed to be. I would have taken a tougher stand in getting out.”
May was the first foreign leader to visit Trump after his inauguration in January last year and they were filmed emerging from the White House holding hands.
But the “special relationship” between the two nations has since faced several ups and downs, including Trump rebuking May on Twitter after she criticised him for retweeting British far-right anti-Islam videos.
He said in an earlier extract from the same interview that he had not intended to cause offence in Britain LONDON — Britain’s Cabinet Office minister David Lidington urged his party to unite to heal growing rifts over how to leave the European Union that could threaten the prime minister’s fragile grip on the leadership.
After a series of public rows in recent days, Lidington said all sides of the ruling centre-right by sharing the videos and that he would apologise if the original posters were horrible racists.
Trump’s comments on militant attacks in Britain have angered some and he has often exchanged barbs on social media with Mayor Conservative party should unite to confront Jeremy Corbyn’s opposition Labour party.
“What I say to all my colleagues is the Conservative family needs to come together in a spirit of mutual respect and look at what the bigger picture is showing,” the Cabinet office minister told the BBC. — of London Sadiq Khan. Trump also said in the interview that he had anticipated the Brexit referendum result because of many Britons’ concerns over immigration — also a key plank of his United States election campaign. —