Islam Times - Trump to UK: 'Walk away' if EU does not give what you want

Islam Times - US President Donald Trump has said the UK should “walk away” from Brexit talks if the European Union does not give London what it wants.

“They’ve got to get it done,” Trump said in an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper ahead of his state visit to Britain beginning on Monday. “They have got to get the deal closed.”

“If they don’t get what they want, I would walk away. If you don’t get a fair deal, you walk away.”

Trump also said the UK should not pay its 39 billion pound EU divorce bill.

“If I were them, I wouldn’t pay 50 billion dollars. That is a tremendous number.”

He suggested that the next British leader should send arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage to the bloc for talks over Brexit.

Noting that Britain must depart the EU this year, he again said he would support those to succeed Prime Minister Theresa May who have said the UK must leave the bloc on the due date of Oct. 31 with or without a deal.

The candidates Trump support include former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, former Brexit minister Dominic Raab and interior minister Sajid Javid.

He also said the Conservatives should involve Farage, the Brexit Party leader, in talks with Brussels after his success in European Parliament elections last month.

“I like Nigel a lot. He has a lot to offer - he is a very smart person,” Trump said. “They won’t bring him in but think how well they would do if they did. They just haven’t figured that out yet.”

On Labour opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, Trump said he would have “to know” him before allowing US intelligence to share its most sensitive secrets with a hard-left government.

He also touched upon Chinese firm Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, warning British ministers that they might jeopardize intelligence-sharing if they let Huawei into the UK’s new 5G mobile phone network.

Trump 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.

More than 250,000 people are expected to take to the streets in the UK to decry his visit, with police officers expected to be deployed to streets in London during Trump's three-day stay.