U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May leave 10 Downing Street for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during the second day of his State Visit on Tuesday in London.Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
U.S. President Donald Trump backtracked on his comments suggesting that access to the Britain’s public health-care system could be part of a future trade agreement with the United States after Brexit.
During a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday, Mr. Trump offered a ringing endorsement of Brexit and said the United States was eager to strike a trade deal with Britain once it was outside of the European Union.
“This is a great, great country and it wants its own identity, it wants to have its own borders, it wants to run its own affairs,” Mr. Trump said when asked about Brexit. “I would think that [Brexit] will happen and it probably should happen.”
Mr. Trump went on to suggest that the future of the National Health Service, or NHS, would be up for negotiation. “I think everything with a trade deal is on the table. When you are dealing on trade everything is on the table, so NHS or anything else, a lot more than that, but everything will be on the table. Absolutely,” he said.
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Later Tuesday, however, Mr. Trump said he did not see the NHS as falling under the realm of trade.
“I don’t see it being on the table. Somebody asked me a question today and I say everything is up for negotiation, because everything is,” the President said in an interview broadcast on ITV News. “That’s something that I would not consider part of trade. That’s not trade.”
The fate of the NHS after Brexit is a sensitive topic in Britain, where access to public health care is considered sacrosanct. Once Britain leaves the EU, the British government will be free to negotiate trade deals with other countries and there are fears the NHS could be opened up to private players.
Teams of negotiators from the United States and Britain have been discussing a possible trade deal, but British officials said Tuesday that those discussions were in the early stages and nothing could be signed until after Britain left the EU, which is now slated for Oct. 31.
Ms. May had offered a careful response to Mr. Trump’s comments, telling reporters that “both sides negotiate and come to an agreement about what should or should not be in that trade deal for the future.”
However, she is stepping down as Conservative Party Leader on Friday and a new leader will take over as prime minister next month. Several leadership candidates were quick to shoot down Mr. Trump’s suggestion.
“Dear Mr President. The NHS isn’t on the table in trade talks – and never will be. Not on my watch,” one of the leadership hopefuls, Health Secretary Matt Hancock, said on Twitter.
“I want to see the U.K. get fair deals on trade with the U.S. and many other countries when we leave the EU. But the NHS is not for sale to any country and never would be if I was Prime Minister,” added Dominic Raab, a former Brexit secretary who is also running for leader.
Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn blasted Mr. Trump and criticized Ms. May for not standing up to the President. “They all need to understand: our NHS is not for sale,” Mr. Corbyn said on Twitter.
Mr. Trump is in the midst of a state visit to Britain that began Monday with a series of events at Buckingham Palace. Tuesday’s news conference came after an hour-long meeting with Ms. May and her officials at No. 10 Downing Street.
The leaders covered a range of issues, including whether Britain will allow Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei to play a role in the development of the country’s 5G network. Mr. Trump has been urging allies to cut ties with Huawei over concerns the company could share information with the Chinese government.
Britain has yet to make a decision on Huawei and officials said a review is under way.
The President's motorcade departs 10 Downing Street past demonstrators in London on June 4, the second day of his three-day State Visit to the UK.ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images
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Mr. Trump offered effusive praise to Ms. May, the Queen and Britons in general. He called the Queen “fantastic” and said Ms. May had been “a tremendous professional” who didn’t get enough credit for trying to reach a Brexit deal with the EU.
His only sharp words were reserved for London Mayor Sadiq Khan and Mr. Corbyn, who he said were “negative forces.”
And while he fit in time on Tuesday to chat with some of the candidates aiming to replace Ms. May – notably former foreign secretary Boris Johnson and Environment Secretary Michael Gove – Mr. Trump kept his comments about them low key and shied away from a strong endorsement.
He also brushed aside thousands of noisy protesters who flooded central London Tuesday and flew a giant balloon depicting him as a baby in a diaper. The public had welcomed him with open arms, he insisted, in a “tremendous spirit of love.”
“I said where are the protests? I don’t see any protests. I did see a small protest today when I came, very small, so a lot of it is fake news, I hate to say it.”
With a report from Reuters
Paul Waldie