LONDON (AP) — A leading contender to be U.S. President Donald Trump's ambassador to the European Union says the bloc is anti-American and the U.S. will try to build bilateral relationships with European countries instead.

Ted Malloch tells the AP the U.S. is "critical and suspicious" of the EU project.

He says "we would prefer, certainly in the Trump administration, to work with countries bilaterally."

Trump has yet to appoint an EU envoy. But Malloch, a former U.N. diplomat who teaches at England's Henley Business School, said Thursday he has been interviewed and vetted for the post.

EU parliamentarians have taken the unusual step of writing a letter, calling his views "outrageously malevolent."

Malloch accuses the EU of "blatant anti-Americanism" and says there are many issues "where U.S. foreign policy differs" from the bloc's.