LONDON (BLOOMBERG) - British Prime Minister Theresa May said US President Donald Trump advised her to be litigious in dealing with the European Union on Brexit.

"He told me I should sue the EU," Mrs May told BBC interviewer Andrew Marr on Sunday (July 15). "Sue the EU, not go into negotiations, sue them."

In an interview given before arriving in the UK on Thursday, Mr Trump criticised Mrs May for the way she handled negotiations with the EU, saying, "She didn't listen to me."

The deal she is pursuing "is not what the people voted on" and will affect trade with the US "in a negative way", he said.

At a news conference with Mrs May on Friday, Mr Trump declined to specify what he told her.

"I did give her a suggestion. I wouldn't say advice. And I think she found it maybe too brutal."

He added: "If they don't make the right deal, she might very well do what I suggested."

Mr Marr, in questioning Mrs May, said "the whole country" wanted to know what "brutal, tough suggestion" was made by Mr Trump.