President Donald Trump: 'US wouldn't want NHS if handed to us on a silver platter'

3 December 2019, 09:46

President Donald Trump has said the US “wouldn’t want the NHS if you handed it to us on a silver platter,” despite his previous comments about trade deals involving the health service.

The US leader said he had “never even thought about” the NHS on his visit to London for a Nato summit.

Speaking during a press conference, he said he “wouldn’t even know where that rumour started.”

But on June 3, he said: "When you're dealing in trade everything is on the table - so NHS or anything else."

On Tuesday, he told reporters: "I've had nothing to do with it, never even thought about it, honestly."

"I don't even know where that rumour started. We have absolutely nothing to do with it and we wouldn't want to if you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it."

The US President also said he would “stay out of the election,” but said he thought Boris Johnson was “very capable.”

Mr Trump added: "I'll stay out of the election. You know that I was a fan of Brexit. I called it the day before.

"I think Boris is very capable and I think he'll do a good job."

He said the UK election is "going to be very important for this country" but added: "I have no thoughts on it".

Asked if he would be meeting Mr Johnson, the president said: "I will be meeting with him, yes."

He added: "I have many meetings. I have meetings set up with lots of different countries."

Asked why he is staying out of the General Election, the President said: "Because I don't want to complicate it."

He said he could "work with anybody" when asked whether he could work with Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister.

"I can work with anybody, I'm a very easy person to work with," he added.

President Trump also hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron over his claim that Nato was "brain dead".

He said Mr Macron's comments were "very insulting" and that he was "very surprised" at his remarks.

"Turkey responded by saying that he was brain dead which was interesting," he told reporters.

He added: "I heard that President Macron said that Nato was brain dead. I think that is very insulting to a lot of different forces. It has a great purpose."

Mr Trump said Mr Macron was being "very disrespectful" to other alliance members as he attacked the French economic record.

"It is a very, very nasty statement. I think they have a very high unemployment rate in France. France is not doing well economically at all," he said.

"It is a very tough statement to make when you have such difficulty in France when you look at what is going on with the yellow vests.

"They have had a very rough year. You just can't go around making statements like that about Nato. It is very disrespectful."