The manners are appalling, but on trade Trump is clearly right. The UK can't have its cake and eat it. It can't maintain frictionless trade with the EU and do separate trade deals with the US. It does have to choose.
Since the claim that the UK could do such trade deals WITHOUT sacrificing frictionless trade with the EU has been one of the central untruths of Brexit (given that the claim seemed necessary to keep both Remainers & Leavers onside) this is actually a useful intervention.
And it's good that he specifically doesn't like the common EU-UK rulebook since it is a reminder that the choice for HMG is also a choice between the EU and the US rulebook.
Finally, the fact that elsewhere in the interview he is as unpleasant as we know he is, is also useful. Because it reminds HMG and the UK more generally that the choices they now have to make are not only about trade.
Time is running out now, there are just 8 months until Brexit. The choices can't be ducked for much longer. And if they are, that is also a choice: for a catastrophic no-deal Brexit.
