Eliza Collins

USA TODAY

London’s new mayor — and the first Muslim to hold the position — warns that a Donald Trump presidency could keep him from engaging with American mayors.

“If Donald Trump becomes the president I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith, which means I can’t engage with American mayors and swap ideas,” Sadiq Khan said in an interview with Time.

Khan acknowledged New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel for their work and said he’d like to go to the United States "to meet with and engage with American mayors," but a Trump presidency could jeopardize that. The presumptive GOP nominee has proposed a temporary ban on non-citizen Muslims from entering the United States.

Khan said he planned to visit the United States before January in case Trump wins the White House and criticized Trump’s campaign tactics — which he accused conservatives in his race of using.

“Hope, I think, is a good way of persuading people to vote for you, energize and enthuse people,” he said. “I think to try and look for differences, to try and turn communities against each other is not conducive to living successfully and amicably.”

Khan, a member of the Labour Party, was elected mayor last week.