Donald Trump warned Monday of a rough relationship between a potential Trump presidency and Great Britain’s prime minister due to the United Kingdom leader’s statement that the GOP candidate’s views on Muslims were “stupid”, “divisive” and “wrong”.
Advertisement
Asked how the stand-off could affect relations should he be elected, Mr Trump said: “It looks like we are not going to have a very good relationship”.
The US presidential contender criticised what he called the “very rude statements” made about him by Sadiq Khan, after Trump suggested he would make an “exception” to the ban for the London mayor.
When asked about Britain’s membership of the EU, Trump said: “I’ve dealt with the European Union, it’s very very bureaucratic, it’s very very hard”.
In an interview with Britains ITV television, Trump responded to his criticism: “Number one, Im not stupid, I can tell you that right now, just the opposite”.
Mr. Cameron, in a Monday op-ed in the Daily Mirror newspaper, said a British exit from the European Union would devalue the British pound and therefore make the price of imported food more expensive for people.
The prime minister would “work with whoever is the president of the United States and he is committed to maintaining the special relationship”, the spokeswoman said.
Reacting to Mr Trump’s interview, a spokesman for Mr Khan said: “Donald Trump’s views are ignorant, divisive and risky – it’s the politics of fear at its worst and will be rejected at the ballot box just as it was in London”.
The spokesman said no meeting or call between Mr Cameron and Republican candidate Trump was now planned, but if one were proposed the Prime Minister would consider it.
Speaking after his election, the mayor said his “ignorant view of Islam could make both of our countries less safe – it risks alienating mainstream Muslims around the world and plays into the hands of extremists”. “They are very nasty statements”, the Republican nominee told GMB.
Trump responded: “Well when he won I wished him well, now I don’t care about him”.
A spokesman for Khan on Monday again described Trump’s views as “ignorant, divisive and dangerous”.
“I think it if I were from Britain, I would probably not want it”.
Mr Trump said: “I just think it’s very rude of him”.
But he pointedly said he would “remember” the hostile reaction that he received from the mayor, who said his own election had shown voters would not back “divisive” candidates.
The billionaire businessman claimed to have many Muslim friends. “I’m a unifier, unlike our president now, I’m a unifier”.
He said: “It’s not Sweden doing the damage – we have a real problem and we have to discuss it”.
Advertisement
Khan, London’s first Muslim mayor, has already butted heads with Trump less than one month into the job. “Now, we don’t have to talk about it, or we could”.
