MPs delivered a crushing defeat to Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement for a second time earlier this week, with only about two weeks to go until Britain’s scheduled departure from the European Union.
US President Donald Trump suggested that Britain could avoid all the chaos that comes with Brexit if Prime Minister Theresa May had followed his ideas on how to negotiate it.
Speaking to reporters on Thursday ahead of a meeting with Ireland Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, the POTUS said that he did give a piece of advice to Theresa May which she didn’t take.
“I mean, she’s got to do what she’s got to do. But I think it could’ve been negotiated in a different manner, frankly,” he said.
When pressed on what advice he gave to May, Trump answered: “Well, I just told her what I would do and how I would do it. But she has her own way of doing it. She is — she’s got her own way of doing it. That’s okay.”
He lamented that the country is “being ripped apart” because of a long-standing political crisis that gripped the government and parliament. On Thursday, two weeks ahead of the scheduled departure from the EU, British lawmakers overwhelmingly backed May’s motion to extend the Brexit deadline amid disagreements over the withdrawal plan.
The US president initially supported Brexit, saying that Britain would be “better off” outside the European Union, particularly due to gaining freedom from the EU’s immigration policy.
In 2016, Trump drew a parallel between Brexit and his own presidential campaign, saying that those who supported either of the two shared the same concerns over border security and immigration.
However, he later became critical of May’s Brexit proposals; after European leaders endorsed her blueprint at a summit last November, he said the deal could disrupt the UK-US trade.
“I think we have to take a look seriously whether or not the UK is allowed to trade. Because right now if you look at the deal, they may not be able to trade with us,” he said.
Last July, he also challenged May’s perceived soft line in negotiations with Brussels, maintaining that she had gone “the opposite way” and that the talks were “very unfortunate” for London.