Frustrated EU chief says Donald Trump is ‘easier to negotiate with’

A FRUSTRATED EU chief has complained it is easier to negotiate with Donald Trump than indecisive Theresa May.

The ambassador from one of the 27 member states also dismissed the PM’s Chequers compromise plan as a Victorian era dud.

Mrs May has been so “irrational” and “emotionally inspired” through out Brexit talks that they prefer dealing with the tub-thumping US President.

The withering broadside is revealed today after bruised Brussels insisted it is working “day and night, 24/7” to do a Brexit deal, despite extra pressure from No10 to shift ground yesterday.

The European Commission hit back after being stung by Liam Fox’s criticism on Sunday that its “intransigence” could doom the final few months of negotiations to failure.

Speaking to The Sun anonymously, the EU ambassador savaged Mrs May’s proposal for a goods only trade deal as two centuries out of date – dubbing it “very nostalgic” for the seafaring days of Empire.

The very senior figure added: “If this had been a rational discussion like we have with Trump on cars, what’s underneath is rational.

“With the UK from the start this has not been a rational negotiation, that’s what makes it so difficult.

“Rationally the chance of a cliff-edge should be zero percent.

“If there’s going to be no deal it’s not because of the EU it will be because of London, because they just can’t manage themselves to arrive at a deal.”

Splitting goods and services doesn’t reflect modern trade, the ambassador also argued – repeating EU negotiator Michel Barnier’s stand.

The senior diplomat added: ”It creates a world as if one trades goods which are packaged in cartons, but this is the 21st Century.

“It’s a very 19th Century way of looking at trade which might appeal to the British public, but we’ve moved on two centuries.”

But in a boost for Mrs May, the figure also revealed the bloc is prepared to offer Britain a “privileged position” on Single Market access to avoid it crashing out.

The figure added: “They will have a special arrangement, more intense or more intimate. Of course they’re going to get that.”

But in a bid to heap pressure on the EU to also start compromising, No10 yesterday issued another warning not to let “rigid institutional restrictions or deep-seated ideology” get in the way of a deal.

The PM’s official spokesman added: “There is recognition that the white paper is a significant move by the PM and now they need to respond”.

The Pound weakened further against the dollar yesterday after International Trade Secretary Dr Fox said that there was now a 60% chance of a no deal on Sunday, dropping to a 11-month low of $1.2936.

The national body of police and crime commissioners also warned a no deal Brexit poses a major risk to public safety, with cops instantly losing cross-border powers and database access.

But senior Brexiteer Tory backbencher Sir Bernard Jenkin insisted that scary no deal warnings are similar to the Millennium bug panic.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme: “The civil service and the government are feeding the industry – and the industry is feeding the government – with this diet of gloom, alarm and despondency.

“We will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about – a bit like the Millennium bug.”