Sometimes, 140 characters just aren’t enough. trump held 2 press conferences - New York times

WASHINGTON — Sometimes, 140 characters just aren’t enough.

Seven days into a 17-day “working vacation” in Bedminster, N.J., President Trump unburdened himself during two lengthy, impromptu news conferences on Thursday, eagerly ping-ponging through the litany of domestic and foreign policy issues that have consumed his administration for weeks.

Ignoring his press secretary, who was holding a “One More Question” sign in the back of the room, Mr. Trump doubled down on his threats to North Korea, shrugged off Russia’s ejections of hundreds of American embassy staff, defended his abrupt decision on transgender troops and claimed he had never considered firing the special counsel — directly contradicting his own private statements to aides and friends.

In sometimes rambling answers filled with words like “fantastic” and “great” and “biggest” and “finest,” the president bragged about everything from the state of the economy, the size of his nuclear arsenal, the breadth of his achievements and the increase in security at the border with Mexico.

He called Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, his national security adviser, “my friend” and “a very talented man.” (Mr. McMaster was sitting to Mr. Trump’s right.) But the president did not foreclose the idea that Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, should “step aside” if Republicans fail to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Altogether, the president dabbled in more than a dozen topics for reporters gathered at his golf club, each one generating newspaper headlines and chyrons on television.

Trump Reveals Exasperation With McConnell

President Trump criticized Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, for failed efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

After days of venting, on Twitter and in private, over the Senate’s failure to pass a health care repeal bill before the August recess, Mr. Trump was asked if Mr. McConnell should consider stepping down.

“I’ll tell you what,” Mr. Trump began, “if he doesn’t get repeal and replace done, and if he doesn’t get taxes done, meaning cuts and reform, and if he doesn’t get a very easy one to get done, infrastructure — if he doesn’t get them done, then you can ask me that question.”

Asked if that answer amounted to a yes or a no, Mr. Trump replied, “You can ask me the question. That means ask me that question. Let’s hope he gets it done.”

The comments were a remarkable acceleration of tensions between a president aggrieved at his lack of significant legislative accomplishments to date, and the lawmaker tasked with shepherding his agenda through a Republican-led Congress.

They also signaled a conspicuous desire from Mr. Trump, who often campaigned as a renegade outsider with few meaningful allegiances to either party, to again position himself as a crusader against Washington gridlock — even though he and his allies are now at the controls, grinding the gears.

The laconic Senate leader has strained all year to wrangle his narrow majority. Mr. McConnell has gotten little help from an often disengaged and policy-averse president whose habit of setting arbitrary (and often shifting) deadlines has frustrated senators for months.

Mr. McConnell’s team showed little appetite for a protracted feud. Antonia Ferrier, Mr. McConnell’s spokeswoman, issued a subdued comment in response about the “path forward” to repeal and replace the health care law and added, “But if he has any new statements today, I’ll be sure to send them along.”

Asked about Russia’s decision to force the United States Embassy in Moscow to slash its personnel by 755 people, Mr. Trump might have echoed the bipartisan outrage of other American leaders.

Instead, the president praised President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, expressing gratitude to a top adversary for effectively downsizing the American Embassy, saving United States taxpayers the cost of salaries.

“I want to thank him, because we’re trying to cut down on payroll, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m very thankful that he let go of a large number of people, because now we have a smaller payroll,” Mr. Trump said.

His comment was in keeping with his practice of not criticizing Mr. Putin — no matter how tense relations between Washington and Moscow have grown. Two weeks ago, Mr. Putin seized two American diplomatic properties and ordered the American diplomatic staff cut by more than half, retaliating for sanctions imposed by Congress to punish Russia’s meddling in last year’s presidential election in the United States.

“There’s no real reason for them to go back. So I greatly appreciate the fact that we’ve been able to cut our payroll of the United States. We’ll save a lot of money,” Mr. Trump said.

Asked whether he had considered firing Robert S. Mueller III, the special counsel investigating the Russian election meddling, Mr. Trump said that he had not.

“I haven’t given it any thought. Well, I’ve been reading about it from you people. You say, ‘Oh, I’m going to dismiss him.’ No, I’m not dismissing anybody. I mean, I want them to get on with the task.”

But the statements stood in contrast to what Mr. Trump has privately told people close to him in recent months. The president has discussed both the possibility of firing Mr. Mueller and his concerns that the investigation will undermine his presidency.

In June, one of Mr. Trump’s longtime friends, Christopher Ruddy, said in a television interview that Mr. Trump was considering firing Mr. Mueller.

Mr. Trump also characterized as tepid his relationship with Attorney General Jeff Sessions (“It’s fine”) and shared his reaction to reports that Mr. Mueller’s investigators searched the home of his former campaign chairman, Paul J. Manafort (“I thought it was pretty tough stuff to wake him up, perhaps his family was there”).

Meanwhile, Mr. Manafort — who had been represented by Reginald J. Brown of the law firm WilmerHale — announced that he was switching lawyers. “As of today, WilmerHale no longer represents Mr. Manafort,” a spokesman for Mr. Manafort said.

Mr. Trump said he had not spoken to Mr. Manafort “for a long time,” but “I’ve always found Paul Manafort to be a very decent man. He’s like a lot of other people, probably makes consultant fees from all over the place, who knows, I don’t know.”

The Justice Department’s investigation into possible links between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia’s election interference has engulfed the White House in political and legal scrutiny.

Last month, Mr. Trump described Mr. Sessions as “beleaguered” and said that he would not have made him attorney general if he knew he was going to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.

“It is what it is,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday of his relationship with Mr. Sessions. “It’s fine.”

Two weeks after declaring on Twitter that transgender people would be banned from serving in the military, Mr. Trump said that he is doing the United States military a “great favor.”

The Pentagon has made no move to expel personnel since the commander in chief first announced the ban. And the White House has yet to make public any formal guidance on how the Defense Department is supposed to turn Mr. Trump’s tweets into policy.

But Mr. Trump said that “it’s been a very confusing issue for the military, and I think I’m doing the military a great favor.” He declared that he has “great respect” for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and denied that his ban amounted to a betrayal after pledging to protect them during last year’s presidential campaign.

“I’ve had great support from that community,” Mr. Trump said. “I got a lot of votes.”

He said that the military is “working on it now,” adding, “I think I’m doing a lot of people a favor by coming out and just saying it.”

Defense officials said they were taken by surprise by Mr. Trump’s announcement on July 26. One administration official said the White House is considering urging transgender service members to retire early. But a defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that doing so might be difficult to defend in court.

— Helene Cooper

President Donald Trump on Friday issued his starkest warning yet against North Korea - Wall Street Journal

President Donald Trump speaks to reporters in Bedminister, N.J., Thursday.

By Louise Radnofsky

Updated Aug. 11, 2017 8:29 a.m. ET

President Donald Trump on Friday issued his starkest warning yet against North Korea, saying that “military solutions” were “in place, locked and loaded” should Pyongyang “act unwisely.”

From his working vacation at his golf resort in Bedminister, N.J., the president made the warning on Twitter just before 7:30 a.m. Eastern Time, escalating his rhetoric beyond his declaration the previous day that a previous threat to hit North Korea with “fire and fury” should it threaten the U.S. wasn’t strong enough.

The president concluded the Friday tweet, “Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!”

A day before, Mr. Trump said rejected criticisms that his words had been too inflammatory. He repeated his exhortation to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un to stop issuing threats and vowed to invest billions of dollars more in missile defense.

”They’ve been doing this to our country for a long time, for many years, and it’s about time that somebody stuck up for the people of this country and for the people of other countries,” Mr. Trump said Thursday, referring to North Korea’s threats. “So, if anything, maybe that statement wasn’t tough enough.”

The president’s comments escalated an exchange of threats between the U.S. and North Korea that have rattled markets and unnerved world leaders concerned about a nuclear-armed confrontation. U.S. stocks fell by nearly 1% on Thursday, for a third straight session.

Just an hour before Mr. Trump’s latest tweet, North Korea’s state media accused the U.S. president of “driving the situation on the Korean peninsula to the brink of a nuclear war,” pointing to his threats of war against the North.

Trump: ‘Fury’ Threat Maybe Not ‘Tough Enough’

Standoff Leaves China With Few Options

In a separate article published earlier in the day, North Korea said of U.S. war threats that “if the U.S. opened its eyes to...who its rival is, such stupid remarks would not have been made.”

“It is ridiculous that the U.S. warmongers are unaware of the fact that even a single shell dropped on the Korean Peninsula might lead to the outbreak of a new world war, a thermonuclear war,” the statement added.

The escalation began earlier in the week after Pyongyang defied pressure from United Nations sanctions, rejected American entreaties to consider talks and threatened to use nuclear weapons against the U.S. if militarily provoked. Mr. Trump responded with his warning that the country stop making threats or face “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

The exchanges have overshadowed a U.S. diplomatic effort that led to the unanimous passage of the sanctions at the U.N. last weekend and continued with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Asia this week. Mr. Trump’s threats have drowned out the more conciliatory rhetoric of Mr. Tillerson, who has said Washington doesn’t seek regime change and wants to pressure North Korea into disarmament talks.

—Jonathan Cheng in Seoul contributed to this article

Trump tweets slam Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - Fox News

By Brooke Singman

Published August 10, 2017 Fox News

Sen. McConnell hits Trump for having ‘excessive expectations’

President Trump's Twitter assault on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continued Thursday, as the frustrated commander-in-chief resumed his criticism of the Republican leadership for not advancing the GOP agenda.

Trump's Day II morning tweet criticized McConnell, R-Ky., for failing to pass a plan to repeal and replace ObamaCare, and came hours after a tense 10-minute phone call between the two.

"Can you believe that Mitch McConnell, who has screamed Repeal & Replace for 7 years, couldn't get it done. Must Repeal & Replace ObamaCare!" Trump tweeted Thursday.

The day before, while much of the media focused on the threat North Korea poses to the United States, Trump lashed out at McConnell on Twitter.

“Senator Mitch McConnell said I had ‘excessive expectations,’ but I don’t think so. After 7 years of hearing Repeal & Replace, why not done?” Trump tweeted Wednesday afternoon.

The president’s tweet was seemingly in response to comments McConnell made in a Rotary Club meeting in his home district earlier this week.

McConnell explained to constituents the “complexity of legislating” in response to questions regarding the lack of a “repeal and replace” of ObamaCare.

TRUMP TARGETS MEMBERS' OWN HEALTH PLANS AFTER OBAMACARE REPEAL FALLS FLAT

“A Congress goes on for two years. Part of the reason I think that the storyline is that we haven’t done much is because, in part, the president and others have set these early timelines about things [that] need to be done by a certain point,” McConnell said Monday. “Our new president, of course, has not been in this line of work before, and I think had excessive expectations about how quickly things happen in the democratic process.”

The president has repeatedly expressed his discontent with Republicans in both the House and the Senate for their failure to pass a plan to repeal ObamaCare and replace it with a new health care plan. The administration was left without a major legislative win before the August recess, with lawmakers, seemingly, willing to shift their focus from health care to tax reform when they return to Capitol Hill.

And after fighting Republicans tooth-and-nail for years on their repeal and replace message, Democrats have started touting a slew of proposals aimed to improve the ailing health care system.

DEMS SUDDENLY SCRAMBLING TO COME UP WITH OBAMACARE FIX

Some Senate Republicans have welcomed Democrats to the process. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said they needed to “stick with” health care and bring it to a resolution.

“The end is going to be sitting down with our colleagues from the other side of the aisle and getting something passed,” Flake said on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.”

Senate hearings to discuss health care, in a bipartisan fashion, are set to begin September 4.

Brooke Singman is a Reporter for Fox News. Follow her on Twitter at @brookefoxnews.

The U.S. Oil Industry Is Pushing Back on Sanctions Against Venezuela - TIME Business

The U.S. Oil Industry Is Pushing Back on Sanctions Against Venezuela

Posted: 09 Aug 2017 07:26 PM PDT

(CARACAS, Venezuela) — The Trump administration’s decision on Wednesday to slap sanctions on eight members of Venezuela’s all-powerful constitutional assembly brings to 30 the number of government loyalists targeted for human rights abuses and violations of democratic norms since anti-government protests began in April.

But even as the list of targeted individuals grows longer, promised economic sanctions have yet to materialize amid an outcry by the U.S. oil industry that a potential ban on petroleum imports from Venezuela — the third-largest supplier to the U.S. — would hurt U.S. jobs and drive up gas costs.

The sanctions announced Wednesday focused on current or former Venezuelan government officials accused by the U.S. of supporting President Nicolas Maduro’s creation of a special assembly charged with rewriting Venezuela’s constitution — a move the U.S. says is an attempt by Maduro to shore up his grip on power.

Since its election last month, the 545-member assembly has declared itself superior to all other government institutions and ousted Venezuela’s chief prosecutor, a vocal critic of Maduro.

The U.S. Treasury Department took the unusual step of sanctioning Maduro himself last month, freezing any assets he may have in the U.S. and blocking Americans from doing business with him.

The newest additions on Wednesday include Adan Chavez, the older brother of Hugo Chavez, who is credited with introducing the late president to Marxist ideology in the 1970s, and a national guard colonel lionized by the government after he physically shoved congress President Julio Borges during a heated exchange caught on video.

Former Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez, who is leading the assembly but has so far escaped being sanctioned, said the latest U.S. action seeks to “spread fear” among delegates and please government opponents she described as “criminals” and “unpatriotic.”

While most Venezuelan officials wear U.S. sanctions as a badge of honor — and are frequently rewarded with promotions as a result — Maduro faces a far greater threat if Trump follows through on economic sanctions against the OPEC nation.

For all of Maduro’s anti-capitalist rhetoric, Venezuela, which sits atop the world’s largest oil reserves, remains highly dependent on oil exports to the U.S., especially for importing food and medicine — items in short supply as crude prices have fallen and triple-digit inflation wreaks havoc on the economy.

The Trump administration warned last month that it would take “strong and swift economic actions” against Maduro if he went ahead with plans to seat the constitutional assembly.

But since the election last month, no such action has materialized, leading some of Maduro’s opponents to wonder whether the U.S. president has lost his nerve.

The prospect of an import ban has alarmed U.S. oil companies that rely on Venezuelan crude.

Nine companies, including Chevron, Valero, Citgo and Phillips 66, currently process Venezuelan crude in more than 20 U.S. refineries, most of them located along the Gulf Coast, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Many of these refineries are designed for the type of heavy crude that Venezuela exports and replacing those supplies would be disruptive and costly.

An influential industry group whose members include the nine companies has written two letters to Trump warning there is no guarantee that other key sources of U.S. heavy crude imports — Canada, Mexico and Colombia — could provide enough additional supply to replace the Venezuelan oil. Many refineries would likely turn to Saudi Arabia but the higher costs associated with such a shift “could significantly impact fuel costs for U.S. consumers,” according to the letter by the American Fuel & Petrochemicals Manufacturers.

“We want to make sure that we don’t have the unintended consequence of doing more harm to U.S. refineries than the Maduro regime,” said Chet Thompson, the CEO of the group, which represents 95 percent of the U.S. refining sector.

He added that he is hopeful his lobbying is gaining traction.

“We think we’ve come a long way from early July when these sanctions were first being kicked around. … We think folks are a lot smarter on this issue than they used to be,” he said. “We certainly have not received any commitments or promises as far as what they are going to do. But we have done our job.”

The oil industry is finding allies in the U.S. Congress, particularly among lawmakers from the Gulf states.

Six Republican congressmen from three of the states that process Venezuela’s heavy crude — Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana — recently wrote a letter to Trump warning that banning Venezuelan oil imports would do more harm than good. While applauding the president for his efforts to counter “the disturbing decline of democracy” in Venezuela, the lawmakers, led by Rep. Randy Weber of Texas, said that it could jeopardize 525,000 refining-related jobs along the Gulf Coast.

“We fear that potential sanctions will harm the U.S. economy, impair the global competitiveness of our energy business and raise costs to consumers,” according to the July 28 letter, a copy of which was provided to The Associated Press by a senior Venezuelan official and whose authenticity was confirmed by one of the signatories, Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana.

Some Senate Republicans could soon join the chorus. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who sits on the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, is preparing a letter to Trump raising similar concerns about the impact on the U.S. fuel market, according to his spokesman, John Cummings, who said the senator is rounding up signatories.

Energy analysts, however, have been more circumspect about the effect on global markets and prices at the pump. A recent analysis by Wells Fargo Securities concluded that one impact would be to raise foreign heavy crude prices by about $3.50 a barrel. However, the ban would not affect demand for gasoline or reduce the overall supply of crude on the global market, as Venezuela would likely redirect its shipments to countries in Asia and elsewhere, albeit at a painful discount.

“We do not believe there would be significant impact on retail prices to U.S. consumers given that the net availability of worldwide crude oil volumes would be unchanged,” the Wells Fargo report said.

Dear Google Bro: A Woman in Tech Responds to the Anti-Diversity Memo That’s Gone Viral - TIME

Dear Google Bro: A Woman in Tech Responds to the Anti-Diversity Memo That’s Gone Viral

Posted: 07 Aug 2017 08:06 AM PDT

Over the weekend, a memo written by an anonymous Google employee — asserting that women fall behind at Google for biological reasons — went viral. A female tech industry veteran responds.

Dear Google Guy Who Is Getting Scorched for Writing Things about Gender Diversity that People Like Me Kind of Hate,

I say sometimes that I really miss having a smart opposition party. Liberals need thoughtful conservatives; the dipshits currently running conservativism have everybody flailing. So along you come, and you seem pretty thoughtful, so it doesn’t seem right for me to heap a bunch of my righteousness on to your Dudebro absurdity.

No, no, no. That’s not fair. What you say is not absurd. You see, it’s easy to get kind of a hair trigger when my first-ever ship gift was, no lie, a teddy bear. It’s not your fault I got a stuffed animal with a bow on it as thanks for 15 months of 70-hour weeks. That is my history; it is not yours. You are trying, and it seems right to engage with you.

Because YES, young man, (I’m guessing you’re a youngish, right-wing, men’s-rights type. That’s fine — takes all kinds and men should indeed have rights) — anyway, YES, whippersnapper, you’re right that a gender gap does not always imply sexism. There are many reasons, well researched, for that gap. I myself am gapped, and am 100% certain that some not all of that is due to choices I made knowingly. (I have agency! I am glad! I would make those same choices again, and need no protection from myself!)

But I am choosing to take you at your word when you say you agree that sexism exists. (Some people think you are questioning that, but your sentences smell sincere to me.)

While I don’t think you and I would much enjoy hanging out, and while I think you have some learning to do, what you have written is not baseless. And I have things to learn, too. I appreciate that you spoke as respectfully as you could. I think it’s truly shitty that you, honest questioner with whom I disagree on some stuff, can’t write your honest questions and thoughts about diversity without getting yelled at.

It is not cool, some of the things people are saying. Shouting that they’ll quit if you aren’t fired seems pretty silly to me. Disagreement should not be a fireable offense.

The fact that so many are calling for your head makes me pretty sad. The orthodoxies of diversity that I see all around me are almost always stated in absolute terms, to the extent that sincere curiosity and questions can get a person a really horrible label (sexist, racist, jerk). I also believe that, in the end, the way feminist orthodoxies get expressed (and I am a pretty orthodox feminist, don’t get me wrong) runs deeply counter to the effort of inclusion. People feel silenced, and so they close off. Instead of bringing questioners along, we shame and alienate them. Surely we on the left can see that this is not a productive approach.

I am a Woman in Tech, and conversations like the one you tried to have are exactly the conversations I want. The ones in which we don’t spout orthodoxy, but instead create an atmosphere where people like you (because tech is chock full of you) and people like me (because you need to hear why I am often uncomfortable) can ask our questions safely.

And when our opinions differ we can tell each other, calmly, why.

And we can talk.

I’m interested enough in this conversation that I invite anyone, man or woman, particularly in tech, to reach out to me if you’d like to have a no-questions-barred, insistently respectful, conversation on the topic of diversity in tech.

Thanks for sharing, Li’l Dudebro. I’m curious whether you’re as open as you say you are. (I’m curious whether I am, too.)

Margot Page has been working in the tech industry for more than 20 years. She is working on a book about her experience.

The Next Apple Watch Will Have a Feature Runners Will Love - TIME Business

The Next Apple Watch Will Have a Feature Runners Will Love

Posted: 04 Aug 2017 01:53 PM PDT

Apple Inc. is planning to release a version of its smartwatch later this year that can connect directly to cellular networks, a move designed to reduce the device’s reliance on the iPhone, people familiar with the matter said.
Currently, Apple requires its smartwatch to be connected wirelessly to an iPhone to stream music, download directions in maps, and send messages while on the go. Equipped with LTE chips, at least some new Apple Watch models, planned for release by the end of the year, will be able to conduct many tasks without an iPhone in range, the people said. For example, a user would be able to download new songs and use apps and leave their smartphone at home.

Intel Corp. will supply the LTE modems for the new Watch, according to another person familiar with the situation. That’s a big win for the chipmaker, which has been trying for years to get its components into more Apple mobile devices. Qualcomm Inc. has been the main modem supplier for iPhones and other Apple mobile gadgets, but the two companies are embroiled in a bitter legal dispute. Apple added Intel as a modem supplier for some iPhones last year.
Apple is already in talks with carriers in the U.S. and Europe about offering the cellular version, the people added. The carriers supporting the LTE Apple Watch, at least at launch, may be a limited subset of those that carry the iPhone, one of the people said. However, AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and T-Mobile US Inc. in the U.S. plan to sell the device, according to other people familiar with the matter. The new device could still be delayed beyond 2017 — indeed, the company had already postponed a cellular-capable smartwatch last year. Apple declined to comment.
While the Apple Watch remains a small part of Apple’s overall revenue, Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said earlier this week it’s the best-selling smartwatch “by a very wide margin.” Sales of the device grew more than 50 percent in the third quarter, Cook added. In the larger wearables category, which includes cheaper fitness bands, Apple ranks third behind Xiaomi Corp. and Fitbit Inc., according to research firm Strategy Analytics. Apple does not break out sales numbers for the Watch like it does for iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Making the Apple Watch more of a standalone device may boost sales of the product. “It would be a game changer,” said Gene Munster, co-founder of Loup Ventures and a long-time Apple analyst. “If they could deliver an experience that isn’t tethered to an iPhone, it could kick start a new direction for the business.” Still, he’s concerned about battery life in such a device.
Last year, Apple took a step toward making the Apple Watch a more independent device by selling some new models with a GPS chip. This allows the device to accurately track distance traveled by wearers when they leave their iPhones behind on walks or runs. The company had planned to release an LTE-capable model last year, but chose to hold off due to battery life issues, Bloomberg News reported at the time. Cramming an LTE radio into a device as small as a watch remains a challenge, but Apple has been exploring ways to improve battery life, people familiar with the company’s work said.
In addition to adding a cellular chip to the Apple Watch, the Cupertino, California-based company is planning software changes for the device. WatchOS 4 is coming in the fall with more Siri voice-enabled features, the ability to connect to gym equipment, send payments in iMessage and display news stories, Apple said in June at its Worldwide Developers Conference.
Apple announced the Apple Watch Series 2 alongside the iPhone 7 line in September. The company plans to debut three new iPhone models this fall, including one with a revamped design and a 3-D facial recognition scanner for unlocking the device, Bloomberg News has reported. Apple could choose to debut its new Watch models alongside the new iPhone like it did last year. Apple also plans to release its Siri-driven HomePod speaker and the iMac Pro desktop computer in December, the company said in June.

Spain won't 'jeopardise' Brexit deal to regain Gibraltar sovereignty - Guardian

Spain won't 'jeopardise' Brexit deal to regain Gibraltar sovereignty

Spanish foreign minister seeks to allay UK fears that Gibraltar could be used as pawn by European Union in Brexit negotiations

Gibraltar is home to 30,000 people who overwhelmingly say they identify as British.

Hannah Summers

Wednesday 9 August 2017 08.55 AEST

Spain will not seek to block a Brexit agreement by attempting to regain sovereignty over Gibraltar, the country’s foreign minister has confirmed.

Alfonso Dastis allayed fears Gibraltar could be used as a pawn in Brexit discussions, saying Spain would not “jeopardise” a future deal by demanding a change in status to the British overseas territory.

His comments follow rising tensions after Brussels negotiation guidelines indicated that Spain would be given a veto on whether the Brexit deal could be applied to the rocky outcrop ceded to Britain in 1713.

Theresa May reacted in April to the suggestions by insisting Gibraltar’s status was not up for discussion during a withdrawal deal.

Now Spain’s foreign minister has said that while he placed “great importance” on the issue, “which takes the form of a Spanish demand for the completion of our territorial integrity”, he would not block a Brexit deal in order to secure it.

Dastis told the Spanish newspaper ABC: “We will try to convince the Gibraltarians that [joint sovereignty] is a route worth exploring and that it would benefit them, too.”

However, he added: “But what I don’t want to do is jeopardise an EU-UK agreement by subjecting it to a need to alter Gibraltar’s status at the same time.

“I won’t make an agreement between the EU and the United Kingdom conditional on recovering sovereignty over Gibraltar.”

Gibraltar is home to 30,000 people who overwhelmingly say they identify as British. It automatically joined the European Union in 1973 at the same time as Britain, though it did not become part of the customs union.

The territory’s initial inclusion in draft negotiation guidelines issued by the European council president, Donald Tusk, earlier this year caused fury on the Rock, which accused the EU of bullying.

May’s response at the time was to say the government was “steadfastly committed” to the people of Gibraltar, 96% of whom voted to remain in the EU.

The former Conservative leader Michael Howard suggested May would be prepared to go to war to protect the Rock as Thatcher did over the Falklands in 1982.

Spain’s King Felipe sparked anger during a state visit to the UK last month by stating in a speech to parliament that the “two governments” of his country and Britain would find a solution on Gibraltar’s future that would be “acceptable to all involved”.

A joint sovereignty proposal would give Gibraltarians dual Spanish and British nationality. However, 99% of the territory’s residents previously rejected the idea when it was put to them.

Welcoming the latest comments from Spain, the Tory backbencher Bob Neill, a member of the all party parliamentary group on Gibraltar, told the Sun: “If this is a genuine shift in the Spanish position, we welcome it.

“We want the UK to have a good relationship with Spain after we leave the EU. And the people of Gibraltar want a good relationship with Spain, too.”