In remarks by the US president as to his opinion of the viability of the EU, particularly in the wake of the recent UK Brexit referendum, Trump defaulted to complaining about regulatory hurdles necessary for foreign owners to create businesses in various EU nations.
As reported by the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir, Trump expressed to the Belgian Prime Minister that his Trump-branded businesses had difficulty setting up golf courses, and those difficulties caused the 45th US president to have mixed feelings about the EU.
According to Le Soir, an unnamed source stated that Trump's experience of the challenges his staff faced in setting up Trump-branded golf courses in Ireland and Scotland influenced how the US president views the EU, according to The Hill.
The source, who asked that their name be withheld as they were not cleared to speak publicly on the conversations, stated, "Every time we talk about a country, he remembered the things he had done. Scotland? He said he had opened a club. Ireland? He said it took him two and a half years to get a license and that did not give him a very good image of the European Union," according to Le Soir.
"One feels that he wants a system where everything can be realized very quickly and without formalities," they added.
Trump has continued to conduct the business of state at his various branded golf facilities, visiting them a minimum of 25 times since he took office, according to a report from The New York Times.
