Trump backtracks on Cameron criticism, now envisions ‘good relationship’
US presidential hopeful Donald Trump says he expects to have “a good relationship” with UK Prime Minister David Cameron if he wins the election, just a day after saying the exact opposite in response to earlier criticism from the British leader.
In an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, Trump said of Cameron: “He’s got plenty of problems, and I think he was inappropriate. So that’s fine... I’m sure I’ll have a good relationship with him.”
His remarks jar with those reported on Monday, however, when Trump told ITV: “It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?”
His remarks jar with those reported on Monday, however, when Trump told ITV: “It looks like we're not going to have a very good relationship, who knows?”
After Trump called for a ban on all Muslims entering the US last autumn, the British prime minister criticized the presumptive GOP nominee during a debate in Parliament, calling him “divisive, stupid and wrong.”
At the time, Cameron said rather than banning Trump from entering the UK, as one extremely popular petition demanded, Britons would unite against him if he were to visit the country.
Although Cameron has stood by his comments, despite Trump inching ever closer to the White House, the PM’s advisers are urging him to mend fences. Last month, it emerged British officials have already been liaising with Trump’s team in response to the property tycoon’s growing popularity in the US.
In his Reuters interview on Tuesday, Trump also said he is open to holding nuclear talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The move would signal a sea change in US policy toward the isolated Far Eastern nation. Dialogue between Washington and Pyongyang has come to a standstill since 2008, when North Korea pulled out of international aid-for-disarmament negotiations.
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“I would speak to him [Kim Jong-un], I would have no problem speaking to him,” Trump said.
He added he would urge China, the only major country that engages with North Korea, to put pressure on the hermit state.
“At the same time I would put a lot of pressure on China because economically we have tremendous power over China,” he said.
