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
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.”
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.
The president, who prides himself as a deal maker, also indicated the US will be in a strong position in talks. The prime minister “knows how difficult it is” and “he’s looking very much at the United States”, Trump said.
Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labour Party, said in a speech on Thursday that Johnson wants to deliver a “one-sided Trump trade sell-out” in his rush to reach an agreement with Washington.
“His toxic Brexit trade deal with Trump could hand over 500 million pounds a week of NHS money to big drugs corporations,” Corbyn told supporters.
Trump denied the claims, saying the US is too busy with its own “health service problems” to get involved in the UK.
“We will not be involved with that, we’re trying to fix our health service,” Trump said. “It’s not for us to have anything to do with your health care system, we’re just talking about trade.”
Trump had harsh words for Corbyn, a socialist who favours higher taxes and wants key utilities back under state control.
“Corbyn would be so bad for your country. He’d be so bad, he’d take you in such a bad way,” Trump said. “He’d take you into such bad places.”
UK election campaign hots up on Brexit day that never was
The Labour leader hit back after the interview, accusing the president of interfering in the election and saying his comments show he wants Johnson in power so US companies can exploit the UK’s state-funded health care system.
“It was Trump who said in June the NHS is ‘on the table’,” Corbyn wrote on Twitter. “And he knows if Labour wins, US corporations will not get their hands on it. Our NHS is not for sale.”
In contrast to his comments about Corbyn, Trump talked warmly about his relationship with Johnson and said the prime minister had confided in him about Brexit.
He encouraged Farage’s Brexit Party to make a pact with Johnson for the pre-Christmas election: “He has a lot of respect and like for you,” Trump said. “I wish you two guys could get together, I think it would be a great thing.”
The US leader also lavished praise on the royal family and talked at length about his experiences with Queen Elizabeth, the Prince of Wales and Prince Harry during his visit earlier this year.
