Advertisement
Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal makes a trade agreement with US more difficult, says Donald Trump
- The US president said Britain can ‘do much bigger numbers’ if it makes a clean break from the EU
- Trump also waded into the UK’s election campaign, saying Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would be ‘so bad’ for the country
Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
US President Donald Trump said Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal will make it difficult for the British prime minister to strike a trade deal with the US after the UK leaves the European Union.
In an interview with Brexit Party Leader Nigel Farage on LBC Radio, the US president said the two countries could “do much bigger numbers” if Johnson made a cleaner break with the EU.
“We want to do trade with the UK and they want to do trade with us,” Trump said. “Under certain aspects of the deal you can’t do it, you can’t trade, we can’t make a trade deal with the UK Under certain ways we’re precluded, which is ridiculous by the way.”
Advertisement
This is bad news for Johnson, who touts swift and lucrative commercial opportunities with the US as one of Brexit’s biggest prizes. The premier renegotiated the divorce from the EU and is looking to win a December 12 election convincingly enough to get Parliament to finally approve his Brexit deal.
Trump’s warning suggests that even if Johnson finally manages to get Brexit through, after more than three agonising years of political wrangling, it will not be as straightforward as he had hoped to get that “fantastic” trade deal with the world’s No. 1 economy.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Select Voice
Choose your listening speed
Get through articles 2x faster
1.25x
250 WPM
Slow
Average
Fast
1.25x