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Donald Trump questions timing of UK trade ban on West Bank settlements
However, the US president appeared unusually reticent to comment further on the sanctions imposed by Britain
Donald Trump has questioned the timing of the UK’s ban on trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
However, the US president appeared unusually reticent to comment further on the sanctions imposed by Britain and other countries, saying he wanted to first speak to Israel to “find out their thinking”.
The move, announced by Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday, has triggered a diplomatic row with Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and sparked domestic criticism.
Asked about the trade ban as he headed to a Republican convention in Texas, Mr Trump said: “Well, I’ve just seen it and I’ll be speaking to Israel. I’ll be speaking to them and I’ll find out what’s their thinking.
“I understand exactly what’s going on, but I want to find out why all of a sudden does that happen?”
However, it has been reported that Mr Trump did not argue against the imposition of sanctions when informed about them in a phone call with Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Monday.
US officials told their UK counterparts they shared their concerns about the approach of Mr Netanyahu in the West Bank, while not supporting the punitive action by Britain and others, according to the US news website Axios.
When asked about steps being taken by the UK on Tuesday, US secretary of state Marco Rubio notably did not criticise the move.
He declined to comment on the announcement beyond saying the US would “obviously” not follow suit and did not want to see “anything destabilising” in the West Bank.
Mr Rubio said: “Well, they alerted us to it. We don’t have any announcements. Obviously, these are decisions that they make.
“And we, and the president has expressed this in the past. We don’t want to see anything destabilising going on right now in the West Bank with so much going on in the region.”
He added: “Obviously, we’re not going to do what the UK did. We saw their announcement… but I don’t have any comment on it right now.”
Mr Rubio’s measured remarks were in stark contrast to Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador to Israel, who described the UK’s decision as an “irrational action”, which amounted to “discrimination against the Jewish people”.
The White House has distanced itself from Mr Huckabee’s comments.
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