Trump hails Brexit and praises ‘great relationship’ with Britain as he hints UK will be spared from EU tariffs
DONALD Trump last night dropped a powerful hint that Brexit Britain will be spared from punishing tariffs — and get a “quick” trade deal.
Hailing our EU split as a huge success when quizzed by The Sun, the US President declared: “I have a great, warm spot for your country.”
President Trump welcomes Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer[/caption]
Asked whether the UK had to choose between closer ties with the EU or US, he replied: “Well, I think we have just a great relationship.”
He later added in a press conference: “We’re going to end up with a very good trade agreement for both countries and we are working on that as we speak. We’ll see if we can do something pretty quickly.
“But we’re going to make some great trade agreements with the UK and with the Prime Minister, and it’ll happen very quickly.”
On the original 2016 Brexit vote, Mr Trump declared: “I predicted it would happen and it did happen.
“It will work itself out, I think it’s already worked itself out.”
He added: “I’ve had problems with the EU. We happen to have a great relationship with you, but we did and do have problems with the EU because they have tariffed us.”
He hammered home that quitting the EU was right as it set Britain apart.
“We’re talking about a very different place,” he said of Britain, citing his own golf course interests in the UK.
Mr Trump’s comments will heap pressure on the PM not to do any “reset” deal with the EU that could jeopardise trade talks with the US.
Discussions with Brussels are due to begin next month. And there are fears the EU will demand so-called “dynamic alignment” with its own rules — making a US free trade deal harder.
Meanwhile, the President is threatening to hammer the EU with 25 per cent tariffs, saying earlier this week that the bloc was set up to “screw” America.
Sitting beside him in the Oval Office, Sir Keir Starmer made the case that the UK should be exempt from tariffs, saying: “Our trade is obviously fair and balanced, and you have a bit of a surplus.”
Mr Trump replied: “It will work out. We will have to take a look.”
He later joked that Sir Keir had been “terrific in our discussions”.
He added: “But you are a tough negotiator, I’m not sure I liked that.”
Asked about his comments that the EU was designed to “screw the US”, Mr Trump said: “Did I use the word you said, the bad word?
“They sue our companies. We don’t like the way they are treating our people, they way they treat our companies.
“They sell us cars, we don’t sell them cars. They don’t take much of our agriculture. We have a deficit with them of $350billion.”
He added: “So I wouldn’t say it’s been such a great relationship personally but other people have said it’s good because it’s politically correct to say it’s good — but it isn’t good.
And we are going to change that and are going to have reciprocal tariffs. Whatever they charge us, we are going to charge them.”
The only fly in the ointment to an unprecedented Oval Office love-in came after Vice President JD Vance’s comments about free speech being under threat in Britain.
After the President handed over to his deputy, the VP said: “Look, I said what I said, which is that we do have, of course, a Special Relationship with our friends in the UK, and also some of our European allies.
But we also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British — of course what the British do in their own country is up to them — but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens, so that is something that we’ll talk about today at lunch.”
Sir Keir hit back: “We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time.
“Certainly, we wouldn’t want to reach across US citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right, but in relation to free speech in the UK, I’m very proud of our history there.”
