UK Prime Minister Theresa May revealed, on July 15, that US President Donald Trump advised her to "sue the European Union" amid their talks on Brexit negotiations. In an interview with the British newspaper The Sun, published on July 12, during his first official visit to the United Kingdom Trump said he had given advice to May, but that the Prime Minister had ignored him.

During a July 13 press conference, Trump was asked what he had told the Prime Minister. He said that he did not give advice, but a suggestion and that he understood completely why she found the proposal "too brutal." Trump, however, did not reveal what he suggested to May.

On July 15, the Prime Minister ended the mystery. In a live interview with the BBC, journalist Andrew Marr asked what, about Trump's suggestion, May had found to be "too brutal." She said that Trump told her to sue the European Union and not get into dealings with them.

To the BBC she said that by leaving the European Union, the UK will make trade agreements with other nations, and end the free movement of people and will no longer follow the rules imposed by the European Court of Justice.

Theresa May defends herself

The Prime Minister defended her project for Brexit and called for support from her critics. The British government faces a deep internal split because of the way May has negotiated the exit.

Last week, Conservative Party members in favor of the so-called "hard Brexit," the most radical break with the EU without participation in the single market, left their jobs because they considered the plan too feeble.

Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson, announced that he would leave the government on Monday. Hours later, the special minister for Brexit, David Davis also resigned.

At the BBC, May insisted that her proposal allows the UK to make its own trade agreements, despite envisaging common trade rules with the EU. She said these rules are needed to protect jobs in companies with supply chains that cross borders across Europe.

Before meeting with May, the US President had criticized the way she is leading Brexit.

Trump's interview, with The Sun, was published the day he arrived in the UK. The Offensive statements made by the US President put the British government in a difficult situation. He said that May's proposal to seek a free trade area of goods with the EU would "kill" any prospect of business with the US. In the same interview, the President praised former Foreign Minister, Boris Johnson, and criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan.

'Fake news' and protests

Asked about the criticism he made of May, Trump said the Prime Minister does a magnificent job and called his own interview "fake news." The President said that in the edition of the interview he gave to The Sun, the newspaper omitted the positive statements he made about May.

This, he says, is equivalent to "fake news."

He added that May is a professional because when he saw her, he said, “'I want to apologize because I said such good things about you.” And she said, '”Do not worry, it's only the press," noted the Washington Post. Trump indicated, at the news conference alongside May, that the positive things he said about the Prime Minister were not in the headline of the paper.

In addition to Trump being infamous within the British government, his visit also inspired protests from the British people. Concurrent to Trump's visit, people in the UK organized demonstrations in different cities. In London, where tens of thousands of people took to the streets against the American President on Friday, a balloon depicting Trump as a diaper-napped baby with a cell phone in hand flew next to the British Parliament.

Trump spent two days in England, where he met Theresa May and Queen Elizabeth II. He then headed to Scotland, where he spent the weekend at his golf club. Before coming to the United Kingdom, Trump was in Brussels, where he generated tension with allied countries at the NATO summit meeting, the Western military alliance.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED