U.S. President Donald Trump kicked off his visit to the U.K. by knifing his host, Prime Minister Theresa May, in the front. Metaphorically, of course.
In an interview with The Sun, Trump said May’s long-awaited blueprint for Brexit, published this week, would “probably kill” any future trade deal between the U.S. and U.K. He also said May’s arch-rival Boris Johnson--who resigned as foreign secretary on Monday in protest at the blueprint--would “make a great prime minister.”
May’s plan for the U.K.’s exit from the European Union is widely seen as describing a “soft Brexit,” in that it would see the U.K. stay aligned with some European rules in order to maintain the free movement of goods. (It would not, however, permit regulatory alignment nor free movement of services, which are the bedrock of the British economy. The British financial sector is reportedly furious.)
Brexit hardliners such as Johnson and the former Brexit minister David Davis, who resigned just before Johnson did, see May’s plan as a betrayal--they don’t want to be aligned with EU rules at all. And Trump has now openly sided with them against the prime minister.
“If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the U.K., so it will probably kill the deal,” the president said. “If they do that, then their trade deal with the U.S. will probably not be made.”
“I actually told Theresa May how to [conduct the Brexit negotiations] but she didn't agree, she didn't listen to me,” Trump added. “Deals that take too long are never good ones. When a deal takes so long, they never work out very well.”
He also said May’s plans are “not the deal that was in the [Brexit] referendum.” This is false, as the referendum spelled out no detail whatsoever, consisting only of the question: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”
On Johnson, Trump said: “I have a lot of respect for Boris. He obviously likes me, and says very good things about me.”
May responded to Trump’s remarks by saying: “We have come to an agreement at the proposal we're putting to the European Union which absolutely delivers on the Brexit people voted for.” (Again, the British people did not vote for any particular flavor of Brexit; just for Brexit as a concept.)
Even May’s political opponents--outside her own party--seem to be outraged about Trump’s attack on her.