The US president had said earlier this week that May did not pay heed to his "brutal" advice on Brexit negotiations. May's revelations follow a damning critique of her exit plans by Trump.
Image: Reuters/E. Vidal
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British Prime Minister Theresa May said US President Donald Trump had told her to sue the European Union as part of her Brexit strategy.
Trump told journalists on Friday at a joint news conference with May that he had given the British premier advice that she found too "brutal."
When asked on a BBC show, what that suggestion was, May said: "He told me I should sue the EU. Not go into negotiation, sue them."
"What the president also said at that press conference was 'Don't walk away. Don't walk away from the negotiations. Then you're stuck,'" she added.
Damning critique
May's revelations came after a damning critique of her exit plans by Trump.
"I would have done it much differently," he told The Sun in an interview published on Friday. "I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn't listen to me."
"If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the UK, so it will probably kill the deal," Trump said of the prospects for a trade deal with the US.
The president later played down his remarks during the joint news conference with May, saying he understood why she had found the advice "a little bit tough."
May warns rebels
Earlier this week, May's government published its long-awaited Brexit plans, which propose to keep Britain and the EU in a free market for goods, with a more distant relationship for services. The plans have angered many Brexit supporters and have seen the resignation of two prominent Cabinet ministers.
May warned her party rebels on Sunday that wrecking her plan to forge a close relationship with the EU after Britain's exit from the bloc could be disastrous.
"We need to keep our eyes on the prize. If we don't, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all," she wrote in the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
In Pictures: UK protests against President Donald Trump's visit
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire as the president attended a dinner with Prime Minister Theresa May. An even bigger rally is set to take place in London on Friday.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Dunham
The Trump angry baby balloon
A large balloon depicting the US president as a giant infant will be allowed to fly over London during the president's four-day visit to the UK after the capital's Mayor Sadiq Khan gave his permission. Scottish police, however, said that the balloon could not fly over the Turnberry golf club Trump owns on the west coast of the country.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Dunham
Angry Oxfordshire
Trump and his wife, Melania, met British Prime Minister Theresa May and her husband Philip for a formal dinner at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on Thursday. Hundreds of protesters descended on the castle to voice their opposition to the president's visit.
Image: Getty Images/M. Cardy
Protest in the capital
Most of the protests against Trump have taken aim and his anti-immigrant rhetoric, as well as his administration's policy of separating undocumented parents and children who cross the US border. Although Trump has said this practice will be stopped, thousands of children remain separated from their parents and face great difficulty locating their relatives.
Image: picture-alliance/Zumapress/R. Pinney
'I think they like me'
Despite the protests, Trump insisted ahead of his trip to the UK that he was well-liked in the country. "I think they like me in the UK. I think they agree with me on immigration," he told reporters in Brussels. He then reminded the press that his mother was from Scotland.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Akmen
Mass demonstration planned
As the Trumps dined with the Mays, protests in the British capital took place outside Winfield House, the residence of US Ambassador Woody Johnson. The Trumps will be staying with Johnson on Thursday night, one day before a mass demonstration against Trump's policies is set to take place in London.
Image: Getty Images/J. Taylor
Not the first time
Last year, activists began circulating a petition to block a state visit from Trump that eventually made its way to the floor of Parliament. In the end, the president canceled his visit before the UK government took any official steps.
