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Trump Expects Poor Relationship with British PM | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump


Presidential candidate Donald Trump has said he is unlikely to have a good relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron in light of his criticism of Trump’s proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the U.S.

In an interview broadcast Monday on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Trump said: “It looks like we’re not going to have a very good relationship, who knows.”

“I hope to have a good relationship with him but it sounds like he’s not willing to address the problem either,” Trump said, although earlier in the interview he said he didn’t care about Cameron’s comments in which he cast the U.S. presidential candidate as “divisive, stupid and wrong.”

The British PM has refused to retract comments although the U.S. is Britain’s closest ally and political leaders from both nations often speak of how the countries’ enjoy a special relationship.

Trump said he is “not stupid” and denied he was divisive.

His remarks drew a counter-reaction from the British PM. A spokesman said on Monday Cameron stands by his description of Trump’s proposal for the temporary ban on Muslims as “divisive, stupid and wrong.”

The spokesman said Cameron had been clear he would work with whoever is president and that he was committed to maintaining the special relationship with Washington.

In the interview, the U.S. candidate also described London’s new mayor, Sadiq Khan, as rude for calling him ignorant.

“He doesn’t know me, never met me, doesn’t know what I am all about. I think they are very rude statements. Frankly, tell him I will remember those statements. They are very nasty statements,” Trump said. “It is ignorant for him to say that.”

After Khan’s election, Trump had told the New York Times that he could make an exception for Khan, who is a Muslim, to visit the U.S.

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 difficult. In terms of Britain I would say ‘what do you need it for’? But again, let people make up their own mind.”