Australian opposition leader backs Clinton, slams Trump

May 17, 2016 11:01 AM

"Whoever America elects we'll deal with but there's no doubt in my mind that Trump would be very difficult, I think, to deal with."

Australian opposition leader backs Clinton, slams Trump

Australia's centre-left opposition Labor Party leader Bill Shorten on Tuesday endorsed U.S. Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton over her chief Republican rival, Donald Trump, who he said would be "very difficult" to work with.

Recommended articles

Shorten, who is campaigning against Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ahead of national elections on July 2, pledged to continue Australia's close relationship with the United States regardless of the outcome of the U.S. election.

But he made no secret of which candidate he preferred.

"In terms of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump, I have to say that if I was in America, I would be voting for Hillary Clinton," Shorten told reporters.

Trump's often controversial comments on everything from Muslims and women to the future of NATO and relations with Russia have drawn criticism from Berlin, Paris and other European capitals.

British Prime Minister David Cameron this week stood by his description of Trump's plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States as "divisive, stupid and wrong" after Trump said that he was unlikely to have a good relationship with Cameron.