European Council President Donald Tusk has a stern warning for Trump
The European Union is firing back at President Donald Trump’s criticisms.
“Dear America, appreciate your allies,” European Council President Donald Tusk said. “After all, you don’t have that many.”
He also shared a similar sentiment in Trump’s favorite forum, Twitter:
Dear @realDonaldTrump. US doesn’t have and won’t have a better ally than EU. We spend on defense much more than Russia and as much as China. I hope you have no doubt this is an investment in our security, which cannot be said with confidence about Russian & Chinese spending :-)
— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) July 10, 2018
Trump has slammed Europe on trade and criticized NATO partners for not paying enough for defense, targeting both Tuesday in a tweetstorm:
Getting ready to leave for Europe. First meeting - NATO. The U.S. is spending many times more than any other country in order to protect them. Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer. On top of that we lose $151 Billion on Trade with the European Union. Charge us big Tariffs (& Barriers)!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2018
NATO countries must pay MORE, the United States must pay LESS. Very Unfair!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2018
Many countries in NATO, which we are expected to defend, are not only short of their current commitment of 2% (which is low), but are also delinquent for many years in payments that have not been made. Will they reimburse the U.S.?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2018
The European Union makes it impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe (U.S. has a $151 Billion trade deficit), and then they want us to happily defend them through NATO, and nicely pay for it. Just doesn’t work!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 10, 2018
Trump arrived in Brussels on Tuesday for the NATO summit and a trip to the United Kingdom later in the week. He will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki next week.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
