Trump bumps UK ‘down the queue’ in favour of EU free trade deal

US President Donald Trump has reportedly bumped the United Kingdom down the queue for a new free trade deal after German Chancellor Angela Merkel convinced him that he should first strike a deal with the EU.

The Times quoted a source close to the White House as saying that there had been a “realization” in the Trump administration that a free trade deal with the EU was more important to US interests than a post-Brexit deal with Britain.

“Ten times asked [Merkel] if he could negotiate a trade deal with Germany,” the newspaper quoted a senior German politician saying. “Every time she replied, ‘You can’t do a trade deal with Germany, only the EU. On the eleventh refusal, Trump finally got the message, ‘Oh, we’ll do a deal with Europe then.’”

Trump has repeatedly criticised the EU and welcomed the UK’s decision in 2016 to leave the bloc, pledging to work hard to get a bilateral trade deal done.

However, German finance minister Wolfgang Scauble said on Friday he was optimistic that a US-EU trade deal could be reached soon after he met up with his US counterpart in Washington.

He said he had seen a relaxation in the EU’s dispute with the US over trade and believed a “non-confrontational solution” would be reached when financial leaders of the world’s top 20 economies converge in Hamburg in July.

A quick deal between the US and the EU could come as a blow to UK Prime Minister Theresa May who had hoped to win a promise of deeper trade ties when she became the first foreign leader to meet Trump in office in January.

During last year’s Brexit campaign, then- US president Barack Obama warned that the UK would go to “the back of the queue” for a trade deal if it voted to leave. His comment was denounced by people campaigning to leave the EU, who claimed that the UK would be free to negotiate quick trade deals with major global economies once it had left the EU.