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Trump pledges to “go all out” for a UK-US trade deal if Brexit talks fail

The message from the EU is clear: there will be no improvement to the deal rejected by Parliament. And if talks fail? Donald Trump today makes an offer: that the United States, the UK’s No 1 customer, is standing by with its own free trade deal. It needn’t take even a year, he says, as he’d go “all out” so Britain can do a lot more trade with the world’s largest economy.

The EU’s deal, he says, is anyway ludicrous: the £39bn is too much money. And why, he asks, would the UK government agreed to a two-year moratorium on signing free trade deals?

In an interview with the Sunday Times, he elaborates on the art of the deal. “If they don’t get what they want, I would walk away. Yes, I would walk away. If you don’t get the deal you want, if you don’t get a fair deal, then you walk away.”

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Steerpike

Steerpike is The Spectator's gossip columnist, serving up the latest tittle tattle from Westminster and beyond. Email tips to steerpike@spectator.co.uk or message @MrSteerpike

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