Via Frank
In two separate, and quite striking, interviews with Germany's Bild (
paywall) and London's Sunday Times (
paywall),
Donald Trump did what he failed to do in his first US press conference,
and covered an extensive amount of policy and strategy, much of which
however will likely please neither the pundits, nor the markets.
Among the numerous topics covered in the Bild interview, he called
NATO obsolete, predicted that other European Union members would join
the U.K. in leaving the bloc and threatened BMW with import duties over a
planned plant in Mexico, according to a Sunday interview granted to
Germany’s Bild newspaper that will raise concerns in Berlin over
trans-Atlantic relations. Furthermore, in his first "exclusive"
interview in the UK granted to the Sunday Times, Trump said he will
offer Britain a quick and “fair” trade deal with America within weeks of
taking office to help make Brexit a “great thing”. Trump revealed that
he was inviting Theresa May to visit him “right after” he gets into the
White House and wants a trade agreement between the two countries
secured “very quickly”.
Trump told the Times that other countries would follow Britain’s lead
in leaving the European Union, claiming it had been deeply damaged by
the migration crisis. “I think it’s very tough,” he said. “People,
countries want their own identity and the UK wanted its own identity.”
