World News
President Trump Says Briton Should Just ‘Walk Away’ and Refuse to Pay EU’s 39 Billion Pound Extortion Bill
LONDON – U.S. President Donald Trump said Britain should refuse to pay its 39 billion pound EU extortion bill and “walk away” from Brexit talks if Brussels does not give the UK what it wants.
In an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper ahead of his state visit to Britain starting Monday, Trump said the next British leader should send arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage to conduct talks with the EU and that Boris Johnson would make a great choice for Prime Minister.
Trump said of the former foreign secretary: “I think Boris would do a very good job. I think he would be excellent.”
The British Government has to “get the deal closed” on Brexit he said.
“If they don’t get what they want, I would walk away… If you don’t get the deal you want, if you don’t get a fair deal, then you walk away.”
Trump added that if he was in charge, he would not pay the EU divorce bill, and he claimed it is not too late to “sue” the EU to give Britain greater “ammunition” in the talks.
“If I were them I wouldn’t pay 50 billion dollars. That is me. I would not pay, that is a tremendous number.”
He vowed to “go all out” to secure a free-trade deal between the UK and US within months of Britain leaving the EU
Meanwhile, Veteran Socialist Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn said on Saturday U.S. President Donald Trump’s comments endorsing Conservative front-runner Boris Johnson as the next prime minister were an “unacceptable interference” in Britain’s affairs.
Corbyn’s programs echoe the demands of socialist movements around the world, including the Democratic Socialists in the US, in his call for wealth redistribution and a fairer economic system, designed “for the many, not the few.”
Corbyn a devout socialist who declined an invitation to attend a state banquet with President Trump during his visit, said: “President Trump’s attempt to decide who will be Britain’s next prime minister is an entirely unacceptable interference in our country’s democracy.”
He added in a statement on Saturday: “The next prime minister should be chosen not by the U.S. president, nor by 100,000 unrepresentative Conservative party members, but by the British people in a general election.”
After failing three times this year to get parliament to back her plan for leaving the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May said last week she would step down as leader of the governing Conservative Party on June 7 to open the way for a contest to succeed her.
So far, 12 Members of Parliament have said they will stand in the leadership election. They will be whittled down by their fellow lawmakers to a final two before the grassroots party members make the final choice.
Trump praised Johnson on his last visit to Britain in July 2018, saying that he thought he had the skills needed to be prime minister, shortly after Johnson resigned in protest at May’s handling of Brexit.
Johnson, who has said he would be prepared to take Britain out of the EU without a deal on Oct. 31, has not commented on Trump’s latest endorsement.
Corbyn himself has been widely accused of failing to clarify Labour’s position on Brexit by not saying outright whether or not it is decisively in favor of a second referendum on Brexit.
Trump also praised current foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt, also a Conservative leadership candidate, for his pledge to increase British defense spending.
He arrives in Britain on Monday for a state visit at the invitation of Queen Elizabeth before attending World War Two commemorations in France and visiting Ireland.
It is only the third state visit of a U.S. president to Britain.
