Trump out to mend ties

MEETING: TOP EU OFFICIALS WILL ARGUE FOR OPEN TRADE, CLIMATE

US president predicted other countries would leave EU after Brexit vote.

US President Donald Trump met the European Union’s (EU) top officials yesterday in a bid to mend ties with a bloc he alarmed by backing Brexit. Trump arrived for his first talks with EU Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker, who will argue for the benefits of open trade and the Paris climate agreement.

Trump is also meeting with European parliament President Antonio Tajani and EU diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini.

The visit with Tusk and Juncker is a victory of sorts for the EU, which had worked behind the scenes to secure a first encounter with Trump.

Tusk, who coordinates common policy for the EU’s 28 leaders, had until now only held a congratulatory phone call with the US president in November.

“At that time the questions were on Brexit and on the survival of the EU,” a senior European official said.

But since election victories by pro-EU candidates in France and the Netherlands “we are in a different place”, the official added.

Trump rankled European leaders last year by predicting that other countries “will leave” the EU after Britain voted to do so in June.

Juncker quipped in response that he was ready to encourage independence movements by states in the US if Trump failed to tone down his Brexit support. – AFP