Brexit: Trump says Boris Johnson’s deal might hinder trade agreement with the US

Donald Trump has warned the Brexit agreement brokered by Boris Johnson could get in the way of a much sought after trade deal between the UK and America.

In a conversation with Nigel Farage, a longtime supporter of the US president, Mr Trump predicted Mr Johnson and the Brexit Party leader, would “end up doing something terrific” together.

Having said he did not wish to interfere with domestic politics, Mr Trump then said electing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister would be damaging for Britain.

“Corbyn would be so bad for your country. He’d be so bad he’d take you in a such a bad way,” Mr Trump said in an telephone interview with Mr Farage, broadcast on his LBC radio programme.

“He’d take you into such bad places.”

Mr Trump said he liked Mr Johnson and thought he was “exactly” the right person to be the UK prime minister. He also said Britain was a great country with tremendous potential.

Yet, he echoed Mr Farage’s criticism of the Brexit deal Mr Johnson recently agreed with the leaders of the EU, and which would involve locating a hard border in the Irish Sea. While not providing specifics, the US leader said it would hamper a bilateral US-UK deal.

“Yes [Mr Johnson] has [spoken to me] and he also knows how difficult it is, he’s in a very difficult position. And I think he’s willing to do what no one else would do,“ Mr Trump told Mr Farage.

”He’s a fantastic man and I think he’s the exact right guy for the times. And I know that you and him will end up doing something that could be terrific. If you and he get together it’s, you know, an unstoppable force.”

He added: “We want to do trade with UK, and they want to do trade with us. And to be honest with you, this deal, under certain aspects of the deal – you can’t do it, you can’t do it, you can’t trade. We can’t make a trade deal with the UK.”

Against the backdrop of a British general election scheduled for December in which Mr Johnson is seeking to secure a conservative majority before agreeing the Brexit deal with EU leaders, Mr Corbyn dismissed Mr Trump’s remarks.

“Donald Trump is trying to interfere in Britain’s election to get his friend Boris Johnson elected,” he tweeted.

“It was Trump who said in June the NHS is “on the table”. And he knows if Labour wins US corporations won’t get their hands on it.”

During the interview, in which Mr Trump said he believed the Duchess of Sussex, may have to “be a little bit different than that” when confronted with press criticism, the US president repeated his criticism of Theresa May’s approach to Brexit.

He claimed she had ignored his advice.

He also claimed, contrary to what he said was reported by some parts of the media, that Queen Elizabeth had enjoyed the company of himself and first lady Melania Trump, and implied she wanted him to stay longer in Buckingham Palace longer than he did.

He said: “She was smiling and having a good time.”