{"id":96619,"date":"2026-08-03T20:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/96619\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T20:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T20:16:09","slug":"donald-trump-issues-bankrupt-britain-warning-and-tells-gb-news-about-phone-call-with-andy-burnham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/96619\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump issues ‘bankrupt’ Britain warning and tells GB News about phone call with Andy Burnham"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump has warned Britain is at risk of being a “bankrupt” country and opened up about his first phone call with Andy Burnham.<\/p>\n

The US President, who spoke with the UK’s new Prime Minister on July 20, responded to a question from GB News while addressing reporters in the Oval Office. <\/p>\n

Speaking out about the main challenges facing Europe, Mr Trump reiterated his concern about the UK struggling to grapple with the small boat crisis and its longstanding refusal to drill in the North Sea. <\/p>\n

However, the 47th US President revealed Mr Burnham expressed a willingness to explore expanding operations off the coast of Scotland. <\/p>\n

Mr Trump said: “Two things are killing Europe. Number one is immigration. Number two is energy.<\/p>\n

“When you look at the UK, they have one of the best energy fields in the world, North Sea oil. <\/p>\n

“Now I think your new Prime Minister is going to actually open up the (North Sea), from what I hear.<\/p>\n

“I spoke to him, and he sounded terrific on this subject. But you open it up, you\u2019ll be a wealthy country.”<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump has warned Britain is at risk of being a ‘bankrupt’ country<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

REUTERS<\/p>\n

He added: “You keep it closed, you\u2019re going to be a bankrupt country, which is what you are now. Essentially, you\u2019re a bankrupt country.<\/p>\n

“But if you open it up, you’ll be a wealthy country. If you keep it close, you’re going to be a bankrupt country, which is what you are now.”<\/p>\n

President Trump said: “You\u2019re sitting on top of gold, better than gold, and you don\u2019t do anything with it.”<\/p>\n

“You have your choice. Not every country has that choice. Almost no country has that choice.”<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

The US President responded to a question from GB News while addressing reporters in the Oval Office<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GB NEWS<\/p>\n

Discussing his call with Mr Burnham, Mr Trump added: “I think we\u2019re going to have a very good relationship. <\/p>\n

“We\u2019ll see. I\u2019m not going to tell him how to run his country.<\/p>\n

“But I can tell you, immigration is an incredible problem for Europe.<\/p>\n

“You\u2019re allowing people in that, in many cases, are not going to help you. I\u2019m going to be nice. They\u2019re not going to help you.”<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump reiterated his concern about the UK’s struggle to grapple with the small-boat crisis and its refusal to drill in the North Sea<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GB NEWS<\/p>\n

Mr Trump also said: “It\u2019s very sad when I see what\u2019s happening to Europe. <\/p>\n

“It\u2019s very sad to me, but they have a problem with immigration.<\/p>\n

“They have a problem with energy. They have windmills all over the place. Windmills, you lose your shirt.<\/p>\n

“Any country with windmills is a loser. Okay, you just have to look.”<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s 2024 manifesto vowed not to issue North Sea licences and Mr Burnham previously promised to stand by commitments made in the manifesto.<\/p>\n

However, Mr Burnham told his US counterpart that he will be “pragmatic” about North Sea oil, leaving the door open for future drilling in the area.<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister said: “I indicated in the phone call that we had a week last Monday that I would take a pragmatic approach when it comes to the North Sea, and that is my intention as we go forward from here.”<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham promoted Ed Miliband, who was a strong supporter of Labour’s North Sea manifesto commitment, to the post of Foreign Secretary after entering No10.<\/p>\n

\"Andy<\/p>\n

The US President spoke with the UK’s new Prime Minister on July 20<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

GETTY<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, new Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has said the manifesto was clear there is scope to exploit existing licences and that oil and gas are \u201cpart of the mix”.<\/p>\n

However, she was not drawn on whether there are plans to go any further.<\/p>\n

Mr Burnham was extremely critical of Mr Trump before becoming Prime Minister last month.<\/p>\n

While serving as Mayor of Greater Manchester, the 56-year-old said that he would refuse to meet Mr Trump as a “matter of principle”. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has warned Britain is at risk of being a “bankrupt” country and opened up about his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96620,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[7786,361,14,5,20,6,1827,1574],"class_list":["post-96619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-andy-burnham","tag-donald-trump","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-uk-politics","tag-united-kingdom","tag-us","tag-us-politics"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117033420884969434","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}