The head of the European Union’s executive branch openly discussed breaking up the United States in a tit-for-tat warning against President Trump if he should continue cheering the “Brexit.”
United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May officially initiated Britain’s exit from the EU on Wednesday, nine months after a close referendum approved it. Trump has often spoken in favor of the “Brexit” movement, once tweeting “They will soon be calling me MR. BREXIT!” and encouraging other EU members to do the same in a January interview.
“The newly elected U.S. president was happy that the Brexit was taking place and has asked other countries to do the same,” European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said at a European People’s Party conference in Malta on Thursday.
He went on to say, “if [Trump] goes on like that I am going to promote the independence of Ohio and Austin, Texas, in the United States of America.”
This isn’t the first time Juncker has taken a shot at Trump. In February he accused the Trump administration of not understanding the EU “in detail.”
EU Council president Donald Tusk has also been critical of Trump. In late January he suggested that the new Trump administration is a “threat” to Europe.
The relationship between the U.S. and Europe is being tested in more ways than one, particularly with Trump’s assertions that members of NATO need to contribute more to the alliance.
