Trump says he feels badly for Theresa May after her resignation announcement

President Trump said Friday that he feels badly for British Prime Minister Theresa May, who announced earlier in the day that she will resign over her inability to secure a Brexit deal.

“I feel badly for Theresa. I like her very much,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for a state visit to Japan.{mosads}

Trump praised May, calling her “a good woman” and “very strong.”

“She decided to do something that some people were surprised at, some people weren’t. It’s for the good of her country,” he said.

The president will head to the United Kingdom for a state visit from June 3-5, where he is slated to meet with May. She will step down as party leader on June 7, but will remain as prime minister until a successor is chosen.

May announced in a tearful statement Friday morning that she would step down next month as leader of the Conservative Party and as prime minister.

Her tenure was defined by repeated failures to get a deal through the legislature for the U.K. to leave the European Union after voters said in a 2016 referendum that they wanted to leave the political and economic bloc.

Trump met with May in the United Kingdom last year, where he stoked controversy when he gave an interview to the tabloid The Sun criticizing the prime minister’s Brexit plan.

“I would have done it much differently,” Trump said at the time. “I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn’t listen to me.”