Donald Trump suggested Sir Keir Starmer should involve the military in tackling the small boat crisis, warning illegal migration could “destroy” countries.
The US president said he had discussed the situation with Sir Keir at the Prime Minister’s country residence Chequers.
He highlighted his own record in securing the borders in the US and suggested the UK faced a similar challenge.
Setting out his own actions in the US, Mr Trump said: “What I saw happening, with millions of people pouring into our country, I couldn’t stand to watch it, and we’ve done a great job.”
He said “the last three months we had zero – from millions of people a year ago, we had zero people enter our country illegally”.
Speaking alongside Sir Keir, he said: “I think your situation is very similar. You have people coming in and I told the Prime Minister I would stop it, and it doesn’t matter if you call out the military, it doesn’t matter what means you use.
“It destroys countries from within and we’re actually now removing a lot of the people that came into our country.”
Sir Keir pointed to action including the first return under the one-in, one-out deal with France which took place on Thursday morning, just hours before the Prime Minister’s talks with Mr Trump.
