Trump: Our trade could QUADRUPLE (but you need a clean break with EU first!)
President sticks to his guns as he says he urged Prime Minister to be ‘brutal’ in Brexit talks with Brussels
A POST-Brexit deal could ‘quadruple’ trade between Britain and the US provided the UK makes a clean break with Brussels, Mr Trump told the Prime Minister yesterday.
At a joint news conference at Chequers, the president revealed he had apologised to Theresa May for an incendiary newspaper interview in which he attacked her Brexit strategy and questioned whether Britain was really leaving the EU.
He said the relationship between the two allies was now ‘ the highest level of special’, adding: ‘Am I allowed to go higher than that?’
He lavished praise on Mrs May, describing her as an ‘incredible woman’ and adding: ‘She’s a very smart, very tough, very capable person and I would much rather have her as my friend than my enemy.’
Although he rowed back on comments made in an interview with The Sun, Mr Trump made it clear he still harboured reservations about Mrs May’s approach to Brexit.
He revealed she had rejected his advice to be ‘brutal’ with Brussels in negotiations and suggested any trade deal would be limited unless the UK made a clean break with the EU.
Mr Trump horrified Downing Street yesterday after warning that Mrs May’s new Brexit proposals would ‘kill’ hopes of a trade deal.
After a working lunch with the Prime Minister – and frantic work by aides – he backtracked slightly but still sounded sceptical.
‘The only thing I ask of Theresa is we make sure that we can trade and don’t have any restrictions,’ he said.
‘We want the UK to trade with us. We have a tremendous opportunity to double, triple or quadruple trade. If they’re going to go a certain route, I just said I hope they will be able to trade with the US.
‘I read reports where that won’t be possible, but I believe after speaking with the Prime Minister’s people and representatives and trade experts, it will absolutely be possible.’
Mr Trump, one of the few world leaders who backed Brexit, also appeared to question whether the UK would even leave the EU.
He said the US was ready to strike a trade deal ‘once the Brexit process is complete and perhaps the UK has left the EU’, adding: ‘I don’t know what they are going to do. Whatever you do is OK with me – that’s your decision. Just make sure you can trade with us.’
British exports to the US were worth almost £100billion in 2016, suggesting Mr Trump’s vision of a comprehensive free trade deal could prove a massive boost to the British economy.
Mrs May corrected the president and said there was no question about the UK’s departure from the EU.
‘I heard the turn of phrase that the president used earlier, but let me be very clear about this – we will be leaving the EU and we are leaving the EU on March 29, 2019,’ she added.
She insisted there was ‘no limit to the possibility of us doing trade deals around the world after we have left the EU’, despite warnings from her MPs about last week’s Chequers deal.
During a 50-minute news conference in the garden at Chequers yesterday:
Mr Trump repeated his belief that Boris Johnson would make a ‘great prime minister’, while Mrs May looked on awkwardly.
The two leaders briefly held hands as they navigated steps at the PM’s country retreat.
Mr Trump warned Mrs May not to abandon the Brexit talks, as some Eurosceptic MPs are urging, saying: ‘ You can’t walk away because that means you’re stuck.’
Mrs May clashed with Mr Trump over immigration, saying it had been ‘ good for the UK’, after he warned it ‘ was changing the culture and is very negative for Europe’.
Mr Trump clashed with journalists, describing reports that he had criticised Mrs May as ‘fake news’.
Downing Street was left shellshocked by Mr Trump’s overnight attack on Mrs May’s Brexit tactics. The Prime Minister was told about the contents of the interview just before she met him and his wife Melania at Blenheim Palace on Wednesday night, having previously been assured by the White House that it was a ‘helpful’ intervention.
The president, who attacked the EU over trade policy, yesterday revealed he had advised Mrs May to be tougher with Brussels but declined to say exactly what he had in mind.
‘I gave her a suggestion and maybe she found it too brutal,’ he said. ‘I gave her a suggestion, not advice. I can fully understand why she thought it might be tough – if they don’t get the right deal, she may choose to do what I suggested.’ Observers have questioned whether the ‘special relationship’ will survive, but while Mrs May did not use the term, Mr Trump said: ‘I would give our relationship with the UK the highest level of special.’
Anthony Gardner, Barack Obama’s former EU ambassador, described Mr Trump as a ‘one-man wrecking machine’ and said his comments in The Sun were ‘unacceptable’.
But prominent Eurosceptic MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said it was ‘perfectly reasonable’ for Mr Trump to warn about the potential impact of the Government’s Brexit white paper.
‘Make sure you can trade with us’