U.S. President Donald Trump would take a “tougher” approach to Brexit negotiations than Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, he said in a television interview to be broadcast later on Sunday.
In the interview with British channel ITV, Trump said the European Union was “not cracked up to what it’s supposed to be” and claimed he had predicted the result of the June 2016 referendum in which Britons voted to leave the EU. Trump was elected to the U.S. presidency later the same year.
When asked if May was in a “good position” regarding the ongoing Brexit talks, Trump 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.”
Pressed on how his approach would be different, he said: “I would have said the European Union is not cracked up to what it’s supposed to be. I would have taken a tougher stand in getting out.”
May was the first foreign leader to visit Trump after his inauguration in January last year and they were filmed emerging from the White House holding hands.
But the “special relationship” between the two nations has since faced several ups and downs, including Trump rebuking May on Twitter after she criticised him for retweeting British far-right anti-Islam videos.
He said in an earlier extract from the same interview that he had not intended to cause offence in Britain by sharing the videos and that he would apologise if the original posters were horrible racists.
Trump’s comments on militant attacks in Britain have angered some and he has often exchanged barbs on social media with London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
