BFF-02 Trump blasts May’s Brexit strategy on UK visit

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BRITAIN-US-DIPLOMACY

Trump blasts May’s Brexit strategy on UK visit

LONDON, July 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Donald Trump issued scathing criticism
of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit strategy during his visit to Britain,
as campaigners planned a mass protest against the US president on Friday.

In a series of extraordinary broadsides, Trump told Friday’s edition of The
Sun that May’s plan for post-Brexit ties with the EU would “probably kill”
the prospects for a trade deal with the US.

Trump also said former foreign minister Boris Johnson, who resigned this
week in protest over the plan, would make “a great prime minister”.

He said London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has allowed protesters to raise a
giant diaper-clan balloon mocking the US president next to parliament on
Friday, was doing “a terrible job” on crime.

The comments will plunge the transatlantic “special relationship” to new
lows, making for extremely awkward talks with May when the two meet at her
country retreat of Chequers later on Friday.

As he began a four-day visit to Britain on Thursday, Trump, a major
supporter of Brexit, told The Sun that he had advised May to go about leaving
the EU in a different way but was ignored.

“I would have done it much differently. I actually told Theresa May how to
do it but she didn’t agree, she didn’t listen to me. She wanted to go a
different route.

“I would actually say that she probably went the opposite way. And that is
fine. She should negotiate the best way she knows how. But it is too bad what
is going on,” he told the tabloid, Britain’s best-selling newspaper.

Referring to the Brexit blueprint, which was outlined by the government on
Thursday, he said: “The deal she is striking is a much different deal than
the one the people voted on.

“It was not the deal that was in the referendum. I have just been hearing
this over the last three days. I know they have had a lot of resignations. So
a lot of people don’t like it,” he said.

May is facing a rebellion by Brexit hardliners over the proposals,
including the resignation of Johnson and Brexit minister David Davis this
week, although moderates and big businesses have been supportive.

– ‘Kill the deal’ –

May has insisted that her Brexit deal will allow Britain to strike its own
lucrative trade deals with countries like the US once her country has left
the bloc as planned in March next year.

She pressed Trump about the deal on Thursday at a gala dinner at Blenheim
Palace, the birthplace of Britain’s World War II leader Winston Churchill.

Brexit “creates an opportunity to reach a free trade agreement that creates
jobs and growth here in the UK and right across the United States,” she said.

But Trump poured cold water on May’s offer.

Referring to the Brexit deal, he said that: “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”.

Trump flew in to Britain on Thursday, having already subjected NATO allies
to a roasting over their levels of defence spending.

The president spent the night at the US ambassador’s residence located in a
London park behind a “ring of steel” fencing, stalked by noisy demonstrators.

– ‘Politics of fear’ –

The agenda for Trump and May on Friday includes discussion on relations
with Russia, ahead of a summit in Finland on Monday between Trump and
President Vladimir Putin.

Complicating matters, Putin’s government is accused by May’s of unleashing
a deadly nerve agent in the English city of Salisbury. Moscow denies the
charge, and Trump has given no indication that he intends to raise the issue
with Putin.

Trump will later Friday take tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle,
before spending the weekend in Scotland on a private visit that will likely
take in 18 holes at one of the property magnate’s golf courses, where more
protestors await.

While his schedule studiously avoids any high-profile events in London, the
British capital will see a mass demonstration and rally Friday, one of
several protests across Britain including a tuneful one by a group of opera
singers.

An inflatable mockup of Trump in a nappy will fly next to the British
parliament earlier in the day.

The balloon was authorised by Khan, who has crossed swords with Trump
several times after the president posted factually incorrect messages over a
series of terror attacks in Britain in 2017.

Trump said Khan had done “a very bad job on terrorism” and said he had “not
been hospitable to a government that is very important”.

“Now he might not like the current president, but I represent the United
States,” Trump said.

Khan earlier urged Londoners to keep Friday’s main protest “peaceful and
good-spirited”, saying the message went broader than Trump.

“I know Londoners are resolutely opposed to the politics of fear and
despair. The US has always stood by our side as a beacon for tolerance,
openness and respect,” he said.

“But having a special relationship means that we expect the highest
standards from each other, and it also means speaking out when we think the
values we hold dear are under threat.”

BSS/AFP/MRI/0811 hrs