Trump aides: Who’s going to quit EU next?

DONALD Trump’s top team stunned EU officials by predicting it will ‘fall apart’ – and asking which country is next to leave.

Aides to the president-elect made it clear they believe the Brussels club is dysfunctional and likely to break up.

Details of the call between team Trump and senior Eurocrats were revealed by the departing US ambassador to the EU, Anthony Gardner.

He was a pro-EU appointment by the Obama administration and hit out at the Trump team for asking which nation would be next to follow the lead given by Brexit.

‘That was the one question that was asked,’ he said. ‘This is reflective of the general perception of the EU and it’s a misperception.

‘It’s a perception that Nigel Farage is presumably disseminating in Washington. And it’s a caricature. For us to be encouraging Brexit is the height of folly. It’s not a surprise. That’s the mentality of this team: this thing is falling apart. Who’s next?’

Mr Gardner then said of his own outburst: ‘I might as well go out in a ball of flames.’

The comments are further evidence of the staunchly Eurosceptic views held by Mr Trump and his advisers.

They will also bolster hopes that – while the idea of a trade deal between the EU and US is in tatters – Britain will be able to secure a speedy partnership of its own. Earlier this week, Boris Johnson said Britain was now ‘first in line’ for a trade deal.

The Foreign Secretary was struck by the enthusiasm of the president- elect’s team when he held talks at the billionaire’s headquarters in New York.

In the lead up to the EU referendum, Barack Obama said that Britain would be at the ‘back of the queue’ for a deal. But Mr Johnson said: ‘We hear that we are first in line.’