BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, England — In a frenetic news conference Friday at Chequers, British Prime Minister Theresa May’s country home, President Trump denied he had criticized the UK leader a day after a tabloid published an interview in which he said she had ignored his advice on Brexit, and said the relationship between the two countries is the “highest level of special.”
Trump dismissed the interview with the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid The Sun as “fake news” and said the publication had ignored the positive remarks he’d made about May’s leadership. May skirted a question from a reporter who asked if she felt undermined by remarks attributed to the president in The Sun report.
During the interview with the tabloid, Trump said May’s former foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, would make an “excellent” prime minister. Trump, who has linked his own election to the June 2016 referendum in which a slim majority of British voters supported leaving the EU, complained in the interview that “the deal she is striking is a much different deal than the one the people voted on.”
Seeking to soften the blow of the interview, Trump said he has “a lot of respect” for May. He called her an “incredible woman” and said she is “doing a fantastic job” as the British prime minister.
“I didn’t criticize the prime minister. I have a lot of respect for the prime minister,” the president said. “It didn’t put in what I said about the prime minister, and I said tremendous things.”
In The Sun interview, Trump said May had opted for a soft Brexit strategy and warned that any attempts to maintain close ties with the European Union would jeopardize a lucrative trade deal with the United States.
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“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,” he said.
Trump said Friday that May and her representatives have assured him a trade deal “will absolutely be possible.”
“The only thing I ask of Theresa is that we make sure we can trade, that we don’t have any restrictions, because we want to trade with the UK and the UK wants to trade with us,” Trump said.
May said that after Brexit, the UK will have “no limit to the possibility of doing trade deals around the world.”
“Whatever you do is OK with me,” Trump said just before the pair took questions. “Whatever you’re gonna do is OK with us, just make sure we can trade with you, that’s all that matters.”
“The relationship between our two nations is indispensable to the cause of justice, liberty and peace.”
Also at the news conference, Trump said that getting North Korea to disarm will take longer than anyone wants, but “a lot of good things are happening” after Kim Jong Un committed to “complete denuclearization” at a summit last month.
He cited a halt in North Korean nuclear and missile testing. He also said “some sites were blown up.”
But the president added: “It’s a process. It’s probably a longer process than anybody would like, but I’m used to long processes too. We haven’t taken off the sanctions, the sanctions are biting.”
Among the other highlights:
In The Sun interview, had said Europe was “losing its culture” because of immigration.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.
U.S. President Donald Trump, left, gestures while speaking during their meeting with with British Prime Minister Theresa May, right, at Chequers, in Buckinghamshire, England, Friday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)