U.K. PM Theresa May Says Trump Advised Her to Sue the EU

July 15, 2018, 1:43 PM UTC
BRITAIN-US-DIPLOMACY-TRUMP
US President Donald Trump (L) and Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May hold a joint press conference following their meeting at Chequers, the prime minister's country residence, near Ellesborough, northwest of London on July 13, 2018 on the second day of Trump's UK visit. - Britain and the United States have agreed to pursue "an ambitious UK-US free trade agreement" after Brexit, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Friday following talks with US President Donald Trump. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP) (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images)
Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images

U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May said U.S. President Donald Trump advised her to be litigious in dealing with the European Union on Brexit.

“He told me I should sue the EU,” May told BBC interviewer Andrew Marr on Sunday. “Sue the EU, not go into negotiations, sue them.”

In an interview given before arriving in the U.K. on Thursday, Trump criticized May for the way she handled negotiations with the EU, saying “she didn’t listen to me.” The deal she is pursuing “is not what the people voted on” and will affect trade with the U.S. “in a negative way,” he said.

At a news conference with May on Friday, Trump declined to specify what he told her. “I did give her a suggestion. I wouldn’t say advice. And I think she found it maybe too brutal.” He added: “If they don’t make the right deal, she might very well do what I suggested.”

Marr, in questioning May, said “the whole country” wanted to know what “brutal, tough suggestion” was made by Trump.