Donald Trump has appeared confused over the definition of the United Kingdom during a news conference at the G7 summit in France.
The US President answered questions from the world’s media after staying on for a further grilling after a joint effort with French President Emmanuel Macron ended.
After confirming that he wants to hold next year’s G7 meeting at his property in Miami, and suggesting he could meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Trump was asked about new UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the prospects of a fresh Brexit deal.
He revealed he asked Johnson “what happened with England?”
“I asked Boris, ‘Where’s England? What’s happening with England? You don’t use it too much any more’.
“We talked about it, it was very interesting.
“But the UK is a great, incredible place, it’s an incredible nation and it’s been one of our tremendous allies.”
The US president may well think England can be inter-changed with the UK, the union comprising the countries England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
In any case, he thought Johnson would be “a great prime minister”. “We really like each other,” Trump said.
“I have been waiting for him to be prime minister for about six years. “I told him, ‘what took you so long?’”
But he suggested getting a new deal with the EU would not be easy.
He added: “Boris has to try and do something with Brexit – it’s very tough.
“I deal with the EU – it’s a very strong group of people, they have their ideas and they’re not easy to deal with, I will tell you.
“The EU is very tough to make deals with – just ask Theresa May.”
Asked if an alliance with the UK or with Europe would be more important for the US, the president replied: “Both.”
In other notable responses, Trump confirmed that he wanted to hold next year’s G7 meeting at his property in Florida
“Having it in Miami is really fantastic. Each country can have their own villa and bungalow,” he said.
“We haven’t made a final decision. But it’s right next to the airport right there, meaning a few minutes away. It’s a great place. It’s that tremendous acreage many hundreds of acres. So we can handle whatever happens.”
The former businessman dismissed suggestions he was making a profit from the presidency, claiming he would miss out on between $3bn and $5bn during his tenure in the White House.
Trump also suggested Russia could be invited to the next G7 meeting in the US as he argued predecessor Barack Obama had been “outsmarted” by Valdimir Putin when Ukraine was annexed.
But he thought Putin was a “proud person”: “Whether he could come, psychologically, I think that’s a tough thing for him to do.”
Following the G7 summit, Trump expressed an openness to meeting Rouhani within weeks after Macron said he’d like to see the two leaders engaging in talks.