President Trump has said that he would have negotiated Brexit with a “tougher” attitude than Theresa May.
He said that the European Union had “not cracked up to what it’s supposed to be” and claimed he was unsurprised by the result of the referendum because Britons “don’t want people coming from all over the world into Britain”.
Brexit supporters may use his comments to urge the prime minister to take a harder stance in talks but that would leave them open to attack by Remainers for sharing views with the controversial president.
The comments could also be seen as a blow for Mrs May after her largely successful meeting with Mr Trump in Davos, Switzerland. In an interview broadcast on ITV last night, Piers Morgan asked Mr Trump if Mrs May was in a good position in Brexit talks.
The president 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.” He went on: “I would have taken a tougher stand in getting out.” Mr Trump also suggested that he predicted Brexit. The president said: “I said [that] because of trade, but mostly immigration, Brexit is going to be a big upset. And I was right.”
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He added: “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.”
He is also understood to have warned the EU that he was unhappy with its trading relationship with America. He said that he believed the EU had been very unfair to the US, which would be to the bloc’s detriment.
Mr Trump said: “I’m representing the United States, it’s a very unfair situation. We cannot get our product in. It’s very, very tough. And yet they send their product to us — no taxes, very little taxes. It’s very unfair.
“I’ve had a lot of problems with the European Union, and it may morph into something very big from that standpoint, from a trade standpoint.” Mr Trump also claimed that Mrs May invited him to Britain twice this year during their meeting at the Swiss ski resort on Thursday. Downing Street did not confirm Mr Morgan’s claim that an informal visit in July would be followed by a state visit in October.
A No 10 source said: “An invitation has been extended and accepted and details will be set out in due course.”
• Ministers have been criticised for a lack of talks with their US counterparts over the risks posed by climate change to a key military base.
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Sir Alan Duncan, the Foreign Office minister, confirmed Britain had not “recently” discussed the impact on the Chagos Islands, also known as the British Indian Overseas Territory, with officials from Mr Trump’s administration. Such a situation is “quite extraordinary” given the threat of flooding posed to the territory housing a major base for one of Britain’s closest allies, according to Bridget Phillipson, a Labour MP. Chagossians were forced to leave the Indian Ocean territory by 1973 to make way for the US military base on Diego Garcia.