May says Trump told her to 'sue the EU'
July 15, 2018
British Prime Minister Theresa May said US President Donald Trump had told her to sue the European Union as part of her Brexit strategy.
Trump told journalists on Friday at a joint news conference with May that he had given the British premier advice that she found too "brutal."
When asked on a BBC show, what that suggestion was, May said: "He told me I should sue the EU. Not go into negotiation, sue them."
"What the president also said at that press conference was 'Don't walk away. Don't walk away from the negotiations. Then you're stuck,'" she added.
Damning critique
May's revelations came after a damning critique of her exit plans by Trump.
"I would have done it much differently," he told The Sun in an interview published on Friday. "I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn't listen to me."
"If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it will probably kill the deal," Trump said of the prospects for a trade deal with the US.
The president later played down his remarks during the joint news conference with May, saying he understood why she had found the advice "a little bit tough."
May warns rebels
Earlier this week, May's government published its long-awaited Brexit plans, which propose to keep Britain and the EU in a free market for goods, with a more distant relationship for services. The plans have angered many Brexit supporters and have seen the resignation of two prominent Cabinet ministers.
May warned her party rebels on Sunday that wrecking her plan to forge a close relationship with the EU after Britain's exit from the bloc could be disastrous.
"We need to keep our eyes on the prize. If we don't, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all," she wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
Read more: Opinion: Chaos reigns supreme in London
ap/aw (AP, Reuters, dpa)