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Speaking in an
interview with The Times of London newspaper five days before
his inauguration, Trump described himself as a big fan of
Britain and endorsed last year's vote to leave the European
Union.
"I think Brexit is going to end up being a great thing," Trump
said. "I’ll tell you, the fact that your pound sterling has gone
down? Great. Because business is unbelievable in a lot of parts
in the UK."
The June 23 vote took many investors and chief executives by
surprise, triggering the deepest political and financial turmoil
in Britain since World War Two and the biggest ever one-day fall
in sterling against the dollar.
Sterling has since fallen further against the U.S. dollar as
traders, businesses and investors fret about the type of
relationship Britain will have with its biggest single trading
partner after it leaves the bloc.
Trump's election campaign seized on the Brexit vote as an
example of disillusioned voters rising up against the political
establishment, and he forged a friendship with leading Brexit
campaigner Nigel Farage - a fierce critic of Prime Minister
Theresa May.
'SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP'
Trump's election has raised questions over the future of the so
called 'special relationship' that has underpinned close
British-American ties for decades.
But in Sunday's interview Trump played up his ancestral ties to
Britain, saying his Scottish mother was "so proud" of Queen
Elizabeth, and said he was eager to get a trade deal done.
“We’re gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done
properly. Good for both sides,” Trump said. “I will be meeting
with [May]. She’s requesting a meeting and we’ll have a meeting
right after I get into the White House ... we’re gonna get
something done very quickly.”
However, he predicted that more countries would seek to follow
Britain's example and quit the EU.
"I believe others will leave," he said. "If refugees keep
pouring into different parts of Europe . . . I think it’s gonna
be very hard to keep it together because people are angry about
it."
He singled out German Chancellor Angela Merkel - whose open-door
policies have allowed about 1.1 million refugees from Syria,
Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere into Germany since mid-2015 -
calling her immigration policy a catastrophic mistake.
(Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)
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