The European Union is one of US President Donald Trump’s greatest foes. So he said during a recent TV interview.
“Well I think we have a lot of foes,” Trump told CBS News at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland. “I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe.”
As reported by The Guardian, Trump was asked to name his “biggest foe globally right now”. His remarks reflected one of this president’s core beliefs: that America is exploited by its allies.
Hours earlier, British Prime Minister Theresa May revealed that Trump suggested she “sue the EU” rather than go into negotiations over Brexit.
Donald Tusk, president of the European council, tweeted: “America and the EU are best friends. Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.”
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has described the US-Russia summit in Helsinki on July 16 as “the event of the summer”.
In surprising remarks, the president admitted he “hadn’t thought” of asking Putin to extradite 12 Russians indicted over the theft of data from Democratic party bodies ahead of the 2016 election.
“I might,” he said. “I hadn’t thought of that. But I certainly, I’ll be asking about it.”
In a separate report, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) noted that Trump tweeted that he was “looking forward to meeting with President Putin”.
But he added: “Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia…over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough – that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!”
Trump also says he intends to pressure Vladimir Putin over the rapid growth and modernisation of Russia’s nuclear arsenal.
