President Donald Trump said the U.S. would “probably not” strike a trade deal with Britain if Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan went ahead as planned.
“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,” Trump told The Sun, a conservative British newspaper.
Trump said May had ignored his advice on how to negotiate Britain’s exit from the European Union. “I would have done it much differently,” Trump said of May’s Brexit plan. “I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn’t listen to me.”
Trump said May’s so-called soft-Brexit approach went “the opposite way” to what he had recommended and that it was “very unfortunate.”
May’s proposal was finalized Friday. It was quickly followed by the resignation of two members of her Cabinet, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis, who did not approve of her approach.
In the exclusive interview with The Sun, Trump also said that Johnson would make a “great prime minister,” adding, “I think he’s got what it takes.”
The Sun is owned by Rupert Murdoch, a close ally of the president’s, who also owns Fox News Network, Trump’s favorite U.S. TV channel.
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