Donald Trump’s candid interview with the Sunday Times shows the soon-to-be President feels ‘indifference’ to Europe, US reports
But the chat reveals he is very keen to forge stronger links with his allies in the UK
PRESIDENT-elect Donald Trump's interview with the Sunday Times shows the soon-to-be leader of the free world feels 'indifference' to Europe, according to US reports.
The Republican vowed to work out a valuable new trade deal with Britain in a bid to help smooth the country's rocky path out of the EU.
Trump ripped into German Chancellor Angela Merkel over her decision to welcome more than a million Syrian refugees into her country.
While Trump said he had great respect for Merkel, he accused her of making “a catastrophic mistake,” which triggered Brexit.
“[I]f they [EU countries] hadn’t been forced to take in all of the refugees, so many, with all the problems that it … entails, I think that you wouldn’t have a Brexit," he said.
But he used the interview to again endorse the Brexit decision to leave the EU, saying he was a "big fan" of the UK.
Political commentators believe this is a strong indication he plans to establish strong trade links with the UK during his time in office.
And he vowed to work out a US-UK agreement soon: "We’re gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly. Good for both sides."
Trump's remarks stand in contrast to President Obama's warning before the June vote that Britain would be at the “back of the queue” for a trade deal if it voted to leave.
However, one of the aspects of Trump’s interview that will most concerned European leaders was his description of the EU as a way to damage US trade interests.
If Trump is serious about what he said, it could mark a dramatic shift in the way Washington deals with the country's European allies considering that US leaders have long seen the EU as beneficial to the United States for both economic and national security reasons.
The ties between the United States and Europe are so deep that “the full ramifications of a breakdown in transatlantic relations are so extensive they are difficult to total,” notes the Washington Post.
The pointed out: "US guarantees underpin European security. The United States and the European Union, with a population of 500 million, are each other’s most important trading partner.
"For decades, European nations and the United States have worked tightly together on issues of war, peace and trade."
The president-elect also to the EU as a whole, reports Fox.
The news organisation wrote "Trump has spoken positively of the Brexit decision in the past, and repeatedly compared it to his own populist campaign. But his latest remarks, in which he predicted 'Brexit is going to end up being a great thing,' along with the promise of a trade deal, were greeted with particular enthusiasm by pro-Brexit politicians."
“It means so much to me and to the millions of Brits who voted to leave the EU It is good to know that our American ally will help us make it work.”
Trump’s remarks come as Prime Minister Theresa May is set to make a major speech on the subject Monday, in which she is expected to call for a so-called “hard Brexit” - in which Britain will also leave the EU’s single market and customs union in order to assure control over Britain’s borders.
Carswell, whose party was instrumental in the campaign to leave the EU, said that Trump’s comments are likely to have a significant impact in breaking down the fierce European opposition to Brexit.
“If there is a US/UK trade deal based on mutual standard recognition, far from the EU trying to impose protectionist barriers on us, they might even actually ask if they too could be part of something similar,” he said.