Post-Brexit Britain could be pushed behind the European Union in the queue for a trade deal - and many Remain voters have reacted to the news with heavy sarcasm.
According to the Times, the States could strike a free-trade agreement with the bloc now Donald Trump has had a change of heart on the issue.
The US president was finally convinced it would be easier than he first thought by Angela Merkel, the newspaper said.
It claimed the German chancellor persuaded Trump that talks on a deal would be simpler than he thought.
A source close to the White House was quoted as saying that there had been a “realisation” in the Trump administration that a trade deal with the EU - allowing the tariff-free exchange of goods and services - was more important to US interests than a deal with the UK following our impending divorce.
A senior German politician was quoted as saying: “Ten times Trump asked her (Merkel) if he could negotiate a trade deal with Germany.
“Every time she replied, ‘You can’t do a trade deal with Germany, only the EU’,” the politician said. “On the eleventh refusal, Trump finally got the message, ‘Oh, we’ll do a deal with Europe then.’”
Trump, who has been a strong critic of the EU, welcomed Britain’s leave vote and said he would work hard to get a quick bilateral trade deal done.
But Reuters reported that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday he was optimistic a US-EU trade deal could be reached soon after he met his US counterpart in Washington.
Many reacted sarcastically to the news that Britain could be bumped down the queue...
Barack Obama was accused of meddling by Brexit campaigners during the run-up to the referendum when he said Britain would go to “the back of the queue” for a deal if it voted leave.
Brexiters argued that Britain would be free to negotiate quick trade deals with major economies around the world once it had left the EU.