BREXIT : TRUMP SAYS HE WOULD NEGOTIATE BREXIT WITH 'TOUGHER' ATTITUDE THAN THERESA MAY
U.S. President
Donald Trump would take a “tougher” approach to Brexit negotiations than
Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, he said in a television interview 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 U.S. 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
[being] 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 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 London Mayor 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 U.S.
election campaign.
“I said [that]
because of trade, but mostly immigration, Brexit is going to be a big upset.
And I was right,” he said. “I know the British people and understand them.”
“They don’t want
people coming from all over the world into Britain, they don’t know anything
about these people.”
Trump also said he
had been invited by May to make two visits to Britain this year.
Earlier this month,
he cancelled a trip to London to open a new embassy, saying he did not want to
endorse a bad deal agreed by the Obama administration to sell the old one for
“peanuts”.
Some Britons are
angry at the prospect of a visit by Trump, with large protests expected when he
does arrive.
Asked in the
interview if he had been invited to the wedding of Britain’s Prince Harry and
his American fiancée Meghan Markle, Trump said: “Not that I know of.”
He declined to say
if he would like to attend the wedding at Windsor Castle but added: ”I want
them to be happy. I really want them to be happy.
News source : Reuters
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