"Trump’s comments come as British politics remain on edge. The country is scheduled to leave the E.U. on October 31, after delaying its original departure date by months due to a lack of political consensus in Britain.
Prime Minister Theresa May announced her resignation earlier last month after repeatedly failing to gain support for the withdrawal deal she negotiated with the E.U. Parliament rejected the withdrawal deal three times and May was unable to win backing for it to pass in a fourth vote.
Trump also said he “wouldn’t pay” the $50 billion so-called “divorce bill” to settle the U.K.’s financial obligations with the E.U.: “I’m only saying this from my stand point. I would not pay, that’s a tremendous number,” Trump said.
A number of leading Brexit supporters are calling for the U.K. to prepare to leave the E.U. without any deal at all, which means Britain would have no trade arrangement with the bloc, likely resulting in economic disruption. " CNBC
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There is always the pesky problem of a re-emergent intra Ireland hard border, and then there is the loud mouthed mayor of greater London. He is something like the British version of De Blasio, the lord mayor of greater Manhattan.
Nevertheless, Trump's instinct in offering full support for a major US/UK trade relationship is, IMO, a sound idea. essentially a reversion to US/UK trade relations from the status quo ante the EU. What was wrong with that set of arrangements?
The globalists on both sides of the Atlantic will grind their jaws in frustration. So much the better! What would Scotland do? "Time will tell."
*******
Please watch the video of the official reception at Buckingham Palace. The troops are from the Grenadier Guards Regiment of the Household Division. President Trump when escorted by the commander of troops to inspect the guard of honor asks the Grenadier officer if he may speak to the men. After a moment's thought the commander responds in the affirmative and Trump chats his way down the lines speaking with astonished soldiers. Prince Charles finally joins in the conversation. Trump's exchange at the end of the front rank with the Regimental Sergeant Major of the Grenadier Guards must have been a wonderful moment. The two companies of the Guards then passed in review behind "Here's Health Unto Her Majesty ," and "The British Grenadier," (their regimental march.)
Pilgrims, I have been in a hell of a lot of parades, guard mounts and the like and IMO the president's desire to talk to the men was altogether charming. pl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otkCfacn_Uw
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/02/trump-tells-uk-to-walk-away-if-eu-doesnt-agree-to-brexit-deal.html
I also have been in a lot of parades, in fact I was a member of the Regiment that Trump inspected today: 24851647 Shand Andrew 1988-91 1st Bn http://grengds.com/static.php?content_id=94&&letter=S&start=0
And yes, it is very unusual to have a dignitary stop and talk with so many on parade.
Also very nice to see..
There are several thousand trucks entering UK from Europe on a daily basis. If UK ‘walks away’ from its obligations, that will trickle down to a few hundreds, as that is the number of UK driver permitted to drive in Europe.
There is not a single UK airplane, airport, or maintenance facility that is certified by FAA or its European equivalent. So there will be no flights into or out of Europe. And don’t start me on pallets.
Europe is rule-based, and is very good on fudging when required. But if UK walks away, theyll only get the sticky end of the rules.
I doubt that the mandarins of Brussels really want to start people getting cheesed off by Brexit. Here are the stats on EU nationals working in the UK:
https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/record-number-of-eu-nationals-working-in-uk-38110212.html
The Italians and the Spanish have serious concerns about the EU which appears to benefit Germany and the Benelux countries disproportionately.
“the parties Bannon is supporting in Europe”
You guys are really desperate to think Bannon and not your own leadership is the cause of your electoral problems. Did you read the rest of that RT article? They quote Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind KCMG QC, who, per wiki:
“Rifkind was appointed Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, on 6 July 2010, a post he held until 24 February 2015. As Chairman of the ISC Rifkind presided over the transformation of the Committee’s powers to ensure that it had effective oversight of MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.”
The rest of his background is worth reading for those of us on this side of the Atlantic. Libya, Syria, etc. I wonder what he knows about the doings of Christopher Steele, or is that a question for Sir Malcolm’s replacement?
Jeff,
So all the trucks currently entering and exiting the UK are currently being driven by UK nationals? I find that unlikely.
“So there will be no flights into or out of Europe.” Really? You mean as a member of the EU for all these years not a single plane, airport of maintenance facility was ever inspected by the EU? I wonder what they did with all the money the Brits have been sending to Brussels all those years….
Cortes,
“Around 2.38 million EU nationals were employed in the UK from January to March, 98,000 more than in the equivalent period of 2018.”
Those EU nationals also get to vote in the EU elections where they reside. They don’t, however, get to vote for members of Parliment as they are not citizens of the UK.
A wonderful video. Melania looks gorgeous too.
CNBC is lying about ‘no trade deal’. As are those saying we must trade prosperity for freedom.
If we can trade with Japan and Fiji we can trade with Europe.
That brought a smile to my heart! Reminded me of when I attended Imperial College during the 1970s; the Household Cavalry would often be out for their morning ride around 0600 along Ennismore Gardens Mews behind Linstead Hall, where I was living.
Bravo, President Trump! He represented the United States well during this review. He greeted the Queen respectfully without bowing. His choice to banter with some of the grenadiers was uniquely American and well done. There are few times I’m proud of Trump’s actions, but this is definitely one of them.
Perhaps you have wronged him.
That’s part of what drives the swamp establishment CRAZY.
And, BTW, helps to get and keep votes.
Trump makes it up as he goes along.
“Protocol” – that’s a funny word.
No, Trump disappoints me on a regular basis. Sometimes it’s just policy differences. That’s normal and nobody’s fault. Often he just flat disappoints me as a leader and/or human being. I find that to be the norm. Then there are the times, like today, when he rises to the occasion and performs admirably. I may think he’s a conman and bullshit artist, but doesn’t mean he’s the devil.
“I was already unable to swallow that the parties Bannon is supporting in Europe, including in this lot the Brexit Party in UK, are in any way for any kind of national sovereignty or for the betterment of the working class”
Bannon’s support is less important than you think. Also, what is so difficult to swallow about parties like Salvini’s Lega in Italy, which is EU-sceptic, but apart from that has a set of conservative policies that were very common across Europe until about 10 years ago when the mainstream conservative parties shifted to the left especially on the open borders issue? Salvini became very popular in Italy because he sent the migrant boats back, which cut the migrant arrival numbers in Italy down by about 95%, very similar to what Conservative governments have done with their similar migrant boat problem in Australia. What is so hard to swallow about that?
US+UK+Canada+Nordic countries+Germany
Bring on the new Hanseatic League
Time for Deutsh-exit.
The EU has put in place plenty of rules-based fixes for the no-deal scenario, but they are temporary and unilateral. Anyone bigging up the prospect of a comprehensive free trade agreement with the USA has to get their head around this simple reality: the first deal Brexit Britain will be seeking is with … the EU.
It’s a deeply complicated crisis for the UK, and all the misinformed publicity surrounding it is sad to see, including Mr Trump’s interventions.
Here’s an excellent blog for information and debate, written by Richard North: eureferendum.com
>> Often he just flat disappoints me as a leader and/or human being.
He does lack the magnanimity, gravitas, and statesmanship of Bush-Cheney.
At least Obama lived up to expectations.
TTG, that bit of news items feels pretty standard. I have no access to media archives at the moment. But all in all, I wouldn’t think that Trump’s short chat wasn’t all that unusual.
Although not everyone considering context may have addressed the first in line. 😉
Now that would make an interesting but somewhat useless study. Of newsreels over the ages.
No british spares for Airbus if the UK loses accreditation..
He’s OUR conman and bullshit artist!
joanna/LeAnder – If you mean that visitors sometimes speak toa man in the ranks, that is true, but Trump systematically went down the ranks to speak to many. As the former Grenadier Guardsman, TTG and I know it just does not happen that a visitor speaks to so many. It is heartwarming to me.
ITA
walrus,
spare what? Parts already in inventory cease to meet the standard they met on Oct 30th? Why, because the bureaucrats in Brussels are holding some extontist power claiming everything needs to be re-validated? Guess what, the EU is going to have an even bigger unemployement problem when they can’t get the £8 billion of parts that met standards the day before because the paperwork isn’t correct any longer? Have fun with the resourcing at current cost to new suppliers with open capacity. I wonder who will do all that work the 100,000 people in the UK are currently doing.
I also wait with interest to see if the leader of the biggest party in the EU Parliment, Nigel Farage, introduces some legislation to grandmother in those certifactions. He can even call it the “Mother Goose Act” since nobody in the Brussels wants to kill that golden egg laying goose that is Airbus, especially since the stock is up 36% YTD. Doesn’t seem like the market is too worried.
Obama had a pretty low bar to live up to.
Because of his race and left wing politics, he was made a deity by the media.
Even if he called the Queen “Lizzy”, his cult followers, including the media, would have swooned.
I am sorry Pat, no doubt a perfectly planned part of the regal protocol.
I’ll try to behave.
joanna
Don’t you understand human spontaneity at all?
Company Sergeant-major rather than RSM, but agree that it was nice.
Another Baldy – Thanks. So, I guess a company sergeant major is an OR-2? As you may know US Army,Navy and USMC have warrant officers but if I am current they mess and are quartered with the officers when they are above WO-1. A CWO-5 is paid I think at the level of a field officer.
He hasn’t started a war as dumb as the one Bush-Cheney gave us. Gravitas ain’t everything.
Colonel – thank you for putting up that video. A hearty welcome to your President!
Don’t be so sure. We may decide to keep him.
Begob – that’s the mistake I made at first. To think of the affair as no more than a trade deal.
It doesn’t work like that. Trade integration within the EU is not comparable to a normal trading relationship. It is integration within a network of rules that do facilitate trade, but that also keep those inside that network locked in.
As we in the UK are finding, it is difficult to stay locked in within that trading network without also becoming politically locked in. Since the aim of the EU is “ever closer union” this means that those who join it for the convenience and benefits of trading within that network gradually find themselves absorbed.
It is as if Canada were to enter into into a close trading relationship with the USA and were then to find that decisions hitherto made in Ottowa were increasingly made in Washington. Maybe that would suit the Canadians. Maybe it wouldn’t. If it didn’t suit them the Canadians would have a devil of a job getting free of Washington politically were the USA to use the trading links to keep it locked in.
So it’s better to think of Brexit as an odd sort of war of independence, but one in which the weapon is trade, not guns.
If you think of it as a struggle for independence then the whole becomes easier to understand. And in fact the closest parallel I know is the Irish struggle for independence, though there it was guns not trade that finally settled the matter.