Trump visits Europe for summits with NATO and Russia against a backdrop of ‘geopolitical disruption’

AP: President Donald Trump launched a weeklong Europe trip Tuesday with harsh criticism for NATO allies and predicted predicted  that his upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin “may be the easiest” of the meetings he has scheduled for his weeklong trip to Europe.

The president departed Tuesday for his trip across the Atlantic, which will take him first to Brussels, where he will attend the NATO summit on Wednesday and Thursday.

From there, Trump will travel to the United Kingdom for bilateral meetings.

As he departed the White House, Trump did little to reassure allies fretting over the risk of damage he could do to the 69-year-old trans-Atlantic mutual defence pact and his potential embrace of Putin during a summit in Helsinki. He unleashed a brief barrage, reiterating his attacks on Europe over defence spending and trade. (Politico) 

The lashing out by the tweeter-in-chief echoed Trump’s attacks on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron ahead of last month’s G7 summit in Quebec.

This time, Trump’s volley was met with return fire from European Council President Donald Tusk, who used his brief prepared remarks at a signing ceremony of a new NATO-EU cooperation statement to speak the truth to American hard power, and to urge Trump to remember who his friends are.

“Speaking on the eve of the NATO summit here in Brussels, I would like to address President Trump directly, who for a long time now has been criticizing Europe almost daily for, in his view, insufficient contributions to the common defence capabilities, and for living off the U.S.,” Tusk said.

“Dear President Trump: America does not have, and will not have a better ally than Europe,” Tusk continued. “Today Europeans spend on defence many times more than Russia, and as much as China. And I think you can have no doubt, Mr. President, that this is an investment in common American and European defence and security — which can’t be said with confidence about Russian or Chinese spending.”

Trump will arrive in Brussels having sunk transatlantic relations to new lows, with some European leaders warning that the American president is permanently redrawing the geopolitical balance in ways that will not easily be undone.

Asked about Trump’s criticisms, and specifically about his linking of the trade fight to military spending, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that all allies are working to increase their expenditures.

“I believe that when it comes to trade, I will leave that to the European Union.”