‘WE WANT to trade with the UK, and the UK wants to trade with us. We are by far their biggest trading partner and we have a tremendous opportunity to double, triple, quadruple that,’ US president Donald Trump said at a join press conference with PM May yesterday at Chequers in Buckinghamshire.
Concerning the sell-out Brexit White Paper agreed at Chequers, Trump continued: ‘So if they are going a slightly different route, and I know they do want independence, it is going to be independence, it is just your definition … ‘I hope you are going to trade with the United States. I read reports where that won’t be possible. But I believe after speaking with the prime minister that will be possible.’
He called for ‘fair and reciprocal trade with the US. Whatever you do is OK with us, just make sure we can trade and there’s no restrictions.’ Insisting that the Chequers sell-out is not a sell-out, Prime Minister May said: ‘Just to confirm what the president has said, there will be no limit to the possibility of us doing trade deals around the rest of the world, once we leave the European Union on the basis of the agreement that was made here at Chequers and that I put forward to the European Union.
‘Just to be clear, that is an agreement that delivers on the Brexit vote that we had in 2016 in the UK, delivers what I believe is in the forefront of people’s minds when they agreed to leave the European Union. ‘So at the end of these negotiations, we will ensure that free movement will come to an end, that the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice here in the UK will come to an end. ‘The sending of vast sums of money to the EU will come to an end.
‘We will come out of the common agricultural policy, we will come out of the common fisheries policy and we will ensure by not being in the customs union that we are able to have an independent trade policy and do those trade deals around the world. ‘And as you have heard from the president of the United States, for us, we are keen to work with them and we will do a trade deal with them and others and the rest of the world.’
When asked about his comments in an interview earlier in which he said that Tory ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson would make a great prime minister he said: ‘… I said yeah he would be a great prime minister. He has been very nice to me and he has been saying very good things about me as President. He thinks I am doing a great job. I am doing a great job.’
Four Tory leaders including the now ex-Brexit Secretary David Davis, and ex-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson quit over the Chequers Brexit White Paper as they saw it as a complete capitulation to the EU. Tory Brexiteers will now be demanding that the government supports their four amendments to the Chequers White Paper.
