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DONALD TRUMP hailed Boris Johnson as the “right man” to take Britain out of the European Union today, promising a “very big trade deal” at the pair’s first meeting together.
During their G7 summit breakfast meeting in the French seaside town of Biarritz, the US president said the PM needs “no advice” in the run-up to the Brexit deadline of October 31.
Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said that Mr Trump was “patronising” and “humiliating” the Prime Minister, who stood next to him like “an embarrassed 5th former on work placement.”
He warned the PM against “selling out” Britain to the US, as the pair enjoyed a lavish breakfast of veal sausages, pastries and fresh fruit.
They discussed how Britain’s EU exit “presents many opportunities for deepening our already robust economic and commercial relationship.”
Mr Johnson said the pair were “very gung-ho” about the prospect of working together for a comprehensive trade deal.
However Labour’s shadow international trade secretary Barry Gardiner warned that a global recession was “much more likely” as a result of the “protectionist and aggressive trade policies” Mr Trump is proposing after Brexit.
He told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge on Sunday that the World Trade Organisation has a lack of judges to mediate disputes from December as Mr Trump has “refused” the appointment of new judges to the appellate courts.
Mr Johnson insisted that he and Mr Trump were “unanimous” on their views about animal welfare rights being protected in any trade deal and the NHS being “off the table.”
He also confirmed that Britain would withhold £39 billion of the Brexit divorce bill if there was no deal.
The current Withdrawal Agreement brokered by the EU and former PM Theresa May is “totally unacceptable,” he said, as it “would keep us locked in the EU’s trading arrangements and in the lunar pull of EU law without being able to have a say.”
A new Brexit deal is “touch and go” but failure to reach an agreement would be the EU’s fault for not being willing to scrap the Irish border backstop, he said.
Mr Johnson also had talks on Brexit at the G7 with European Council president Donald Tusk.