On eve of Russia summit, Trump calls European Union 'a foe'

[webfact]

On eve of Russia summit, Trump calls European Union 'a foe'

By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

 

Commemorative caps are displayed during a support demonstration ahead of meeting between the U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland July 15, 2018. Lehtikuva/Martti Kainulainen via REUTERS

 

HELSINKI (Reuters) - On the eve of his meeting with Russia's Vladimir Putin, U.S. President Donald Trump rattled allies once more by labelling the European Union a "foe" with regard to trade.

 

In a pre-summit interview with CBS News' "Face the Nation" programme aired on Sunday, Trump lumped in the EU with China and Russia as U.S. economic adversaries. "I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade," he said.

 

Trump and Putin will meet on Monday in Helsinki for their first stand-alone meeting since Trump took office in January 2017. Trump arrived in Helsinki on Sunday evening after spending the day playing golf at his private club in Scotland.

 

The Helsinki summit, which comes at one of the most crucial junctures for the West since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, has alarmed some NATO allies who fear Putin might seek a grand deal that would undermine the U.S.-led transatlantic alliance.

 

During last week's NATO summit in Brussels, Trump repeatedly criticized other member countries for failing to spend more on defence, and openly questioned the alliance's purpose.

 

In recent months, he has also been highly critical of the EU in trade terms, arguing that its policies make it difficult for U.S. exporters.

 

After Trump labelled the EU a "foe," Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, responded on Twitter, using one of Trump's favourite stock phrases.

 

"America and the EU are best friends," Tusk wrote. "Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news."

 

Trump and his aides have been working through the weekend to soften expectations for tangible results from the Russia meeting.

"I go in with low expectations," Trump told CBS.

 

John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, said in an interview with ABC's "This Week" that the United States would not be looking for "deliverables" and that the meeting would be "unstructured," beginning with a one-on-one session between the two leaders.

 

The U.S. Ambassador to Russia, Jon Huntsman, told NBC'S "Meet the Press" that the meeting was "an attempt to see if we can defuse and take some of the drama, and quite frankly some of the danger, out of the relationship right now."

 

A probe over allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election has clouded Trump's presidency. Trump has denied any collusion with the Russians by his campaign and Russia denies it meddled.

 

BRIGHTER SPOTLIGHT

For Trump, the formal meeting with Putin is an opportunity to develop a closer working relationship with the Russian president.

They have met twice before on the sidelines of international summits. Last November, in Vietnam, they agreed to maintain open military channels of communications between their forces in Syria.

 

Trump has baffled his own advisers at times with his unabashed desire for strong ties with Putin, White House sources have said. Most U.S. officials see Putin as an unsavoury character on the world stage.

 

U.S. officials have said they hope to make progress during the talks persuading Russia to use its influence to get Iranian forces out of Syria, as part of a wider campaign to rein in Iran's influence in the Middle East.

 

They also expect Trump to bring up Russia's incursion into Ukraine and the allegations of Russian meddling in the election. Other issues include the potential for nuclear arms talks and North Korea's nuclear challenge, given that U.S. officials have said Russia had worked in the past to help Pyongyang circumvent international sanctions.

 

Huntsman on Sunday said that it was "highly unlikely" the United States would recognise Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, but would not rule it out.

 

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has warned Trump against making any unilateral deals with Russia that come with a cost for the United States' Western allies.

 

ALONE IN THE ROOM

The meeting comes just days after 12 Russian intelligence officers were charged by a U.S. federal grand jury for hacking the Democrats ahead of the 2016 election, the most detailed U.S. accusation yet that Moscow meddled in the election to help Trump.

 

When asked by CBS if he would ask Putin to extradite the Russians to the United States, Trump said he might. Russia's constitution forbids the extradition of its own citizens.

 

"I hadn't thought of that," Trump said. "But certainly, I'll be asking about it."

 

The top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, said he was worried about Trump being alone in the room with Putin, without his national-security aides.

 

"We know that Trump doesn't do a lot of prep work for these meetings. He kind of goes in and wings it," Warner said on NBC's "Meet the Press. "I really would feel much better if there were other Americans in the room."

 

The president has repeatedly said the investigation into Russian election meddling is a "rigged witch hunt" that makes it hard for him to do substantive deals with Moscow.

 

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland in Helsinki.; Additional reporting by Alistair Smout in Turnberry, Scotland, Polina Ivanova in Moscow, and Lesley Wroughton and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington.; Writing by Guy Faulconbridge, William James, and James Oliphant; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Rosalba O'Brien)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-07-16

[lannarebirth]

Semantics issue from a low vocabulary president. Clearly the US is a competitor of all those countries as concerns trade. It would be dishonest to suggest our trade interests are aligned in any way. Each seeks a competitive advantage or in the US's case a level playing field.

Edited July 16, 2018 by lannarebirth

[Lungstib]

Mr. Trump has the misguided opinion that chaos is getting things done. He has not yet, and maybe never will understand the isolation that could result from his tirades.

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, lannarebirth said:

Semantics issue from a low vocabulary president. Clearly the US is a competitor of all those countries as concerns trade. It would be dishonest to suggest our trade interests are aligned in any way. Each seeks a competitive advantage or in the US's case a level playing field.

In the 18th century the economist David Ricardo came up with the now universally accepted theory of  "comparative advantage"

"David Ricardo developed the classical theory of comparative advantage in 1817 to explain why countries engage in international trade even when one country's workers are more efficient at producing every single good than workers in other countries. He demonstrated that if two countries capable of producing two commodities engage in the free market, then each country will increase its overall consumption by exporting the good for which it has a comparative advantage while importing the other good, provided that there exist differences in labor productivity between both countries.^[5][6] Widely regarded as one of the most powerful^[7] yet counter-intuitive^[8] insights in economics, Ricardo's theory implies that comparative advantage rather than absolute advantage is responsible for much of international trade."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage

 

Well, almost "universally accepted" except by a few unkowledgeable people such as Donald Trump.

In fact the average tariff that the EU imposes on US imports is slightly less than 2%.Over 50% of the trade between the 2 blocks is subject to no tariffs at all.

http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2015/january/tradoc_152998.1 Trade in goods and customs tariffs.pdf

 

And while EU tariffs are frequently mentioned by Trump and his deputies, in fact the US also imposes tariffs on EU products. The light truck segment of the US market, which includes SUV's that now account for over 60 percent of US consumer auto purchases, are subject to a tariff of 25%.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tax

Edited July 16, 2018 by bristolboy

[bristolboy]

1 hour ago, lannarebirth said:

Semantics issue from a low vocabulary president. Clearly the US is a competitor of all those countries as concerns trade. It would be dishonest to suggest our trade interests are aligned in any way. Each seeks a competitive advantage or in the US's case a level playing field.

So according to you Trump means that the EU is like Putin: a competitor but not a foe. Which is why he invoked national security as the basis for his imposition of tariffs on the EU?

[soalbundy]

The EU should take any insult from Trump as a compliment, who wants to stand on his side.

[spidermike007]

It is quite possible that it will take a decade or two, to repair the fractured relationships this buffoon is creating, on a daily basis. He is a hater. That is just the way he rolls. So, one wonders, why does he love Russia and Putin so much?

 

The reasonable answer would be to presume that Putin has some fascinating video tapes, taken years ago. Does anyone who knows this super freak, think for a moment, that he would turn down an offer of five gorgeous 16 year olds, who looked nearly 20? All of that was caught on tape. And there was alot of urine involved. The orange man cannot resist depravity, is very thirsty, and he played right into Putin's hands. Once he decided to run, all it took was a one minute clip, to convince the charlatan to keep in line, and start the love fest. In many countries what he is doing is considered treasonous. There is little doubt in my mind, that Putin owns Trump. Bought and paid for.

[phantomfiddler]

Why can,t everyone just get along ? You turn out a product, someone likes it and wants to buy it at the price the manufacture wants, end of story ?

[Chomper Higgot]

Trump, tied to Putin now accusing the EU of being a foe.

 

Arron Banks with Russia meeting (and long denial of Russia meetings) to explain.

 

Farage working for Russian state propaganda outlet RT, personally allied to Trump and running errands to Assange.

 

Leave connected to Cambridge Analytica with connections to Russia.

 

Rees-Mogg private meeting(s) with Steve Bannon who is tied to Trump and Cambridge Analytica.

 

And every single one of them hopelessly denying or lying about their connections and contacts.

 

Trump’s fall is going to have a direct impact on Brexit.

[bristolboy]

52 minutes ago, phantomfiddler said:

Why can,t everyone just get along ? You turn out a product, someone likes it and wants to buy it at the price the manufacture wants, end of story ?

Between the US and the EU that's mostly the case. Tariffs either don't exist or are very low. The one important exception I can think of is autos. There both parties practice protectionism.

[Scott]

Troll post removed. 

[pegman]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

It is quite possible that it will take a decade or two, to repair the fractured relationships this buffoon is creating, on a daily basis. He is a hater. That is just the way he rolls. So, one wonders, why does he love Russia and Putin so much?

 

The reasonable answer would be to presume that Putin has some fascinating video tapes, taken years ago. Does anyone who knows this super freak, think for a moment, that he would turn down an offer of five gorgeous 16 year olds, who looked nearly 20? All of that was caught on tape. And there was alot of urine involved. The orange man cannot resist depravity, is very thirsty, and he played right into Putin's hands. Once he decided to run, all it took was a one minute clip, to convince the charlatan to keep in line, and start the love fest. In many countries what he is doing is considered treasonous. There is little doubt in my mind, that Putin owns Trump. Bought and paid for.

There is also a good chance that Putin had his hackers asisst the Trump campaign win in 2016. So there is that debt too. I'm expecting the announcement of US-Russia free trade negotiations coming out of the private discussion tomorrow.

[tomacht8]

After Trump labelled the EU a "foe," Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, responded on Twitter, using one of Trump's favourite stock phrases.

"America and the EU are best friends," Tusk wrote. "Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news."

Foe is obviously 1 word out of the 300 words Trump can speak in total.

 

[Krataiboy]

Trump calls European Union 'a foe'

 

Good to know that the US President and the majority of Brits who voted to leave the United States fo Europe have something in common.

Edited July 16, 2018 by Krataiboy

[AYJAYDEE]

1 minute ago, Krataiboy said:

Trump calls European Union 'a foe'

 

Good to know that the US President and the majority of Brits who voted to leave the United States fo Europe have something in common.

imbecility?

[JAG]

Interesting that the OP quotes John Bolton as describing the meeting as " unstructured" .

 

That rather sums up  Mr Trump's entire approach to foreign policy...

Edited July 16, 2018 by JAG

[bristolboy]

40 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Trump calls European Union 'a foe'

 

Good to know that the US President and the majority of Brits who voted to leave the United States fo Europe have something in common.

You actually think it's good to have thought processes in common with Donald Trump?

Or do you mean good to know in a diagnostic science like saying it's good to know that someone is senile and take measures accordingly?

Edited July 16, 2018 by bristolboy

[tomacht8]

Against the background of the trade conflict between China and the US, the annual EU-China summit began in Beijing three hours ago. Tensions over the trade dispute with US President Donald Trump make China and the EU more closely aligned.

Trump's worldwide policy of insult brings other nations closer together as a counter-movement.
The foes creates Trump himself.

[Srikcir]

56 minutes ago, Krataiboy said:

Trump calls European Union 'a foe'

 

Good to know that the US President and the majority of Brits who voted to leave the United States fo Europe have something in common.

Yes, since the elections it seems Brits like Trump more now.

 

According to a poll of Britons by Ipsos MORI one month before the election, 84% had a very or fairly unfavorable view of Trump, while 7% had a positive view of him.

According to a recent YouGov’s polling, 67% believe he is a poor or terrible president, while 11% of Britons believe Trump is a great or good president.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-popular-britain-heres-what-polling-says-1016136

As for the remaining 22%, maybe they just want to not even think about Trump at all.

 

 

[dunroaming]

2 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

After Trump labelled the EU a "foe," Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, responded on Twitter, using one of Trump's favourite stock phrases.

"America and the EU are best friends," Tusk wrote. "Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news."

Foe is obviously 1 word out of the 300 words Trump can speak in total.

 

Let's not forget that Trump and the USA needs to be kept separate.  America and the EU are friends. Trump and the EU are not friends.  Trump is insane and although the American people are not, there were enough of them who were duped into voting for this moron.

[spidermike007]

3 hours ago, pegman said:

There is also a good chance that Putin had his hackers asisst the Trump campaign win in 2016. So there is that debt too. I'm expecting the announcement of US-Russia free trade negotiations coming out of the private discussion tomorrow.

Well, we all know Tiny Don will announce a great success. A fake narrative, just as he did with North Korea. He literally makes it up as he goes, and a percentage of his devotees just buy it all. 

[Tug]

That’s our Donald unencumbered by the thought process he really needs a filter lol 

[FritsSikkink]

On ‎7‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 12:53 PM, tomacht8 said:

Against the background of the trade conflict between China and the US, the annual EU-China summit began in Beijing three hours ago. Tensions over the trade dispute with US President Donald Trump make China and the EU more closely aligned.

Trump's worldwide policy of insult brings other nations closer together as a counter-movement.
The foes creates Trump himself.

Not only EU and China, Japan too:

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1505058/eu-japan-to-sign-massive-trade-deal-as-us-puts-up-barriers#cxrecs_s

[Srikcir]

51 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Not only EU and China, Japan too:

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1505058/eu-japan-to-sign-massive-trade-deal-as-us-puts-up-barriers#cxrecs_s

"This agreement will create an open trade zone covering nearly a third of the world's GDP,"

Nicely done Trump. Your trade war has its first casualty - America.

 

[tomacht8]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Not only EU and China, Japan too:

 

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/1505058/eu-japan-to-sign-massive-trade-deal-as-us-puts-up-barriers#cxrecs_s

Also interesting, 

if one thinks of Trump's trade war. 
The taxation of all US Internet platforms.
In the impending escalation of Trump's trade war, another option for the EU to respond.

Thailand just does it this way.