LONDON — President Donald Trump, viewed by many here as an American bull in the proverbial china shop, was especially diplomatic on Tuesday, as he promised to “stay out” of British politics, just 10 days before a general election.
But he couldn’t quite help himself.
Trump also declared that his ally Prime Minister Boris Johnson is “very capable and I think he’ll do a good job” if elected on Dec. 12.
As for Johnson’s opponent, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, the president on Tuesday said, “I can work with anybody.”
A month ago, in a call-in to Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage’s radio show, Trump warned Britain that Corbyn would be “so bad for your country, so bad.”
Trump claimed, “He’d take you in such a bad way.”
Sitting next to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at a one-on-one meeting between the two leaders Tuesday morning, Trump turned a photo-op into a 50-minute impromptu news conference.
Mostly, Trump spoke about NATO and his feelings about French President Emmanuel Macron.
Trump slammed as “very, very nasty” and “very disrespectful” recent comments by his French counterpart about the diminished state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance.
In his side remarks Tuesday, Trump was asked if he thought that Britain’s government-run National Health Service should be on the table in future US-UK trade deals.
“No, not at all, I have nothing to do with it. Never even thought about it, honestly,” Trump said.
“I don’t even know where that rumor started. We have absolutely nothing to do with it and we wouldn’t want to if you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it.”
The rumor may have started with Trump and his ambassador to Britain, Woody Johnson, owner of the New York Jets.
Johnson told the BBC on June 2 that all areas of the British economy, including the NHS and food, would be “on the table” in any future trade talks.
Trump echoed the point two days later.
During a news conference in London on June 4, when asked whether the NHS would be involved in a possible trade deal with the United States, Trump said, “When you’re dealing on trade, everything is on the table — so NHS or anything else, and a lot more than that. Everything will be on the table, absolutely.”
Trump has since backtracked, possibly aware of what a hot-button issue this is in Britain.
In his phone-in with Farage a month ago, Trump said, “It’s not for us to have anything to do with your health-care system.”
The British prime minister, in the closing days of an election he is forecast to win, has sought to keep Trump at arm’s length.
On Friday, Johnson tried to dissuade the American president from offering his opinions on domestic affairs. “What we don’t do traditionally as loving allies and friends, what we don’t do traditionally, is get involved in each other’s election campaigns,” Johnson told LBC radio.
Johnson on Tuesday stated that he could “categorically rule out” that “any part of the NHS will be on the table in any trade negotiations,” including Amercian pharmecueticals.
The prime minister also called Corbyn’s warning that Johnson and Trump had formed an alliance to sell out the NHS, as “pure Loch Ness Monster, Bermuda Triangle stuff.”
Asked if Trump’s support was a possible embarrassment, Johnson said, “On the contrary, and I have good relations with Washington, the president, with President Macron, Chancellor Merkel, and that’s vital for the U.K. And we’ll be having a series of meetings — bilateral, trilateral of all kinds — in the course of the next couple of days.”
Trump said he would be meeting with Johnson at 10 Downing Street later in the trip.
Read more
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Trump isn’t running in Britain’s election. That hasn’t stopped him from getting in the middle.
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2019-12-03 15:06:00Z
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