'I would have been tougher than May'

US President Donald Trump is claiming he would take a “tougher” attitude toward Brexit negotiations with the European Union than the approach now being used by British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Without providing specifics, Trump said in an ITV interview broadcast last night that he would have used different tactics.

“Would it be the way I negotiate? No, I wouldn't negotiate it the way it's (being) negotiated... I would have had a different attitude,” he said. “I would have said that the European Union is not cracked up to what it's supposed to be.”

Britain is preparing to leave 28-nation bloc in March 2019. The complex negotiations have moved slowly and May's Cabinet seems deeply divided over how best to separate.

In the interview with Piers Morgan, Trump said he looks forward to visiting Britain — where he has been invited sometime for a state visit to be hosted by Queen Elizabeth II — and apologises for retweeting videos by a far-right group in Britain, which exacerbated tensions with May and drew complaints in Parliament.

He also said Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle look like a “lovely couple” but he doesn't know if he's been invited to their May 19 nuptials at Windsor Castle. Trump was unperturbed when told that Markle backed his rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 US election and has described him as “divisive.”

 “Well, I still hope they're happy,” he said.

Trump also said his administration might not withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate accord if terms more favourable to the United States are reached, in part because he likes French President Emmanuel Macron, a driving force behind implementing the accord.