Trump: May’s soft Brexit will kill chance of US trade deal
DONALD TRUMP has warned Theresa May that a soft Brexit will “kill” the chance of a trade deal with the US, in comments that hugely undermine her attempts to win support for her Chequers agreement.
On the first day of the US president’s four-day visit to the UK, he suggested Mrs May was not delivering the Brexit the British people voted for and said she had not listened to his advice on how to negotiate.
Mrs May has spent the week reassuring the public and her own MPS that her controversial Chequers deal will still allow Britain to strike trade deals with the US and other countries.
But Mr Trump pulled the rug from under her feet by saying: “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.”
In an interview with The Sun, Mr Trump said: “I would have done it much differently. I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn’t listen to me. The deal she is striking is a much different deal than the one people voted on. It was not the deal that was in the referendum … I know they have had a lot of resignations, so a lot of people don’t like it.” Boris Johnson, who resigned on Monday because he disagrees with the Chequers deal, would make “a great prime minister”, Mr Trump added.
His comments amount to a humiliation for Mrs May, who must today endure a press conference with the president at Chequers, which seems likely to add to Mrs May’s woes.
It came as her long-awaited Brexit White Paper was savaged by Tory Eurosceptics as soon as it was published, with Jacob Rees-mogg accusing the Prime Minister of cowardice and describing it as the worst act of “vassalage” to Europe for more than 800 years.
Mrs May could also face a confidence vote before Parliament breaks up for
summer, it emerged, after Tory whips let it be known that the number of letters was close to the 48 needed.
Last night Mrs May hosted President Trump and the First Lady for a black-tie dinner at Blenheim Palace, where she renewed her plea for a trade deal.
In the ancestral home of Winston Churchill, Mrs May reminded the president that the wartime leader said that having the US at his side was “the greatest joy” as she talked up the importance of the special relationship.
But as she made her pitch for a trade deal, she was unaware that Mr Trump had already dismissed the chances in his outspoken interview.
He told The Sun that despite his advice to Mrs May on how to negotiate, she had gone “the opposite way” and the results have been “very unfortunate”.
Mrs May has decided Britain should have a “common rulebook” with the EU, but Mr Trump said: “If they do that, then their trade deal with the US will probably not be made.”
Brexiteers believe that any deal with the EU that prevents Britain signing lucrative trade deals around the world is “not Brexit” and Mr Trump’s intervention will only amplify their argument.
The president said Mrs May’s plan “will definitely affect trade with the US, unfortunately in a negative way”.
At an unscheduled press conference in Brussels yesterday after the Nato summit, he said immigration was “why Brexit happened” and described Britain as “a hotspot, with a lot of resignations”.
The launch of the White Paper, a 98-
page document fleshing out the details of the Chequers plan, descended into chaos yesterday.
Dominic Raab, the new Brexit Secretary, broke ministerial code of conduct by introducing the document in the Commons before MPS had seen it, forcing John Bercow, the Speaker, to suspend proceedings while officials handed out copies.
The White Paper revealed plans to give EU citizens visa-free travel to Britain for “temporary” work, which takes Britain a step closer to free movement of labour across the Channel.
It also conceded ground on the role of the European Court of Justice after Brexit, saying arbitrators of any trade disputes should be able to “refer” cases to the ECJ for “interpretation”, where previously Mrs May has only said courts should pay regard to ECJ case law in their decisions..
Tory MPS lined up to criticise the paper, with few speaking in support of it
Suggesting the Government had been too cowardly to stand up to the EU Mr Rees-mogg said: “This white paper has not needed age to turn yellow.
“There are very few signs of the Prime Minister’s famous red lines. It is a bad deal for Britain. It is not be something I would vote for nor is it what the British people voted for.”
Mr Rees-mogg said that the paper meant the UK will be subject to EU laws while having no say in their creation because it creates a “common rulebook” for goods.
He said: “The UK has accepted it cannot diverge from ‘ongoing harmonisation’ without activating repercussions for Northern Ireland. In effect, Parliament will have no say over future EU laws implemented in the UK.
“This is the greatest vassalage since King John paid homage to Phillip II at Le Goulet in 1200.”