BREXIT/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRSIDENT/UK: “President Donald Trump warned U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May that a plan her government released Thursday [7-12-18] outlining its future economic relationship with the European Union, if implemented, could ‘kill’ the nation’s chances of striking a bilateral trade deal with the U.S. The public rebuke of Mrs. May, published hours after Mr. Trump arrived in the U.K., marks a fresh blow to the British leader, already taking heavy fire over her approach to exiting the EU bloc in March 2019…In the Sun interview, Mr. Trump said the plan ‘will definitely affect trade with the United States, unfortunately in a negative way.’ The Sun and The Wall Street Journal are both owned by News Corp. Mr. Trump said he recommended a different approach on Brexit to Mrs. May, but ‘she didn’t agree, she didn’t listen to me.’ On a briefing call last week, U.S. ambassador to the U.K. Woody Johnson described the president as eager for a bilateral trade deal between the two nations. One of Mrs. May’s key aims of the visit was to secure support from Mr. Trump for a trade deal, which would have given credibility to her plan and represented a major boost for the U.K. as it prepares to leave the EU. After the EU, where nearly half of British exports go, the U.S. is the U.K.’s biggest overseas market. Pro-Brexit lawmakers say the U.K. will prosper after Brexit by increasing trade with countries outside the EU.”
-Rebecca Ballhaus and Jenny Gross, “Trump Says May’s Brexit Plan Could ‘Kill’ Chances of U.S.-U.K. Trade Deal,” The Wall Street Journal, July 13, 2018 2:23 am