Fears Trump may pull troops out of Europe

DONALD TRUMP could threaten to pull US troops out of Ukraine and refuse to take part in joint Nato exercises if Britain and other European countries fail to commit to increased spending on defence.

Senior sources involved in preparations for this week’s Nato summit are concerned that the US president will begin talks with Vladimir Putin about “redrawing the security landscape” across Europe if leaders refuse to meet Mr Trump’s demands to shoulder a bigger share of the military “burden”.

Military and diplomatic figures told The Sunday Telegraph of fears over a possible offer that Mr Trump could make to Mr Putin at a summit between the two leaders in Helsinki on July 16 – four days after Thursday’s summit in Brussels.

Separately, speaking to The Sunday Telegraph, Tobias Ellwood, the defence minister, warned: “Given the US’s footprint in Europe and Putin’s recent hostile actions… much hinges on the outcome of the two forthcoming summits.”

It comes as Sir Kim Darroch, Britain’s ambassador to America, writing in today’s Telegraph, launches a staunch defence of the UKUS relationship under Donald Trump, insisting military ties remain “stronger than ever” despite some policy differences. One diplomatic source warned that Mr Trump could use the offer of cutting back the US military presence in Europe to secure a reciprocal assurance from Mr Putin that Russia would use its influence to help secure the withdrawal of Iranian troops from Syria.

Israel views Iran’s presence in Syria as an existential threat. The source claimed that Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, has tried to persuade both Mrs May and Mr Trump of the need to enlist Mr Putin’s help.

On 27 January 2017, I accompanied Prime Minister Theresa May as she became the first foreign head of government to hold talks in the White House with Donald Trump. As staffers were still setting up their new desks and finding their way around the building, the President and Prime Minister took a few moments to talk privately.

When I joined them in the Oval Office later, I found them chatting next to a familiar face – Winston Churchill, whose bust, at the personal request of the new President, had been returned to the Oval Office. And in a recent phone call, the President reaffirmed to the Prime Minister his regard for Churchill, and how much he had enjoyed the Oscar-winning British film, The Darkest Hour.

So it’s highly appropriate that, on the first evening of his UK visit, the President will attend a dinner hosted by the Prime Minister with over 100 business leaders at Blenheim Palace, Churchill’s birthplace. This dinner will launch a visit designed to showcase the best of UK-US relations.

Our relationship with the US isn’t simply political and economic – our countries are interwoven at every level. For over a century, our troops have stood together on battlefields in defence of freedom and against tyranny. There is no closer intelligence and security relationship on the planet. We are each other’s largest investors, with a trade relationship worth £160 billion a year. Each year, 17,000 Americans study at UK universities, and 3.5 million American tourists make the trip over the pond.

In recent months, we have seen this cooperation in action on the global stage. Our Armed Forces have worked together to drive out Daesh. We have stood against the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime, and taken decisive action to expel Russian spies in the wake of the poisonings in Salisbury. We are also grateful for this Administration’s strong support for a bilateral free trade agreement post-Brexit.

And out of the headlines, the interaction, sharing, and collaboration, especially on defence and national security, is stronger than ever. All of this makes the UK safer, more secure, and more prosperous. Like all friends, we disagree from time to time. But the relationship is so close and open that we can discuss these difference frankly. We urged the US to remain part of the Iran nuclear agreement and address its legitimate concerns by building on the deal, rather than rejecting it. Equally, we are disappointed by US tariffs on imports of British steel. But we will use our uniquely close relationship to try to resolve these issues.

During this first visit to the UK as President, President Trump will meet Her Majesty The Queen at Windsor Castle, following in the footsteps of President Reagan’s visit in 1982. He will hold talks with the Prime Minister at Chequers, like President Eisenhower and Prime Minister MacMillan in 1959. And he will, over the weekend, make a private visit to Scotland, his mother’s birthplace.

President Trump will be an honoured guest, representing a partnership that is greater and deeper than any other in history.

And in a world in which the challenges seem ever more daunting, I’m confident that the UK-US alliance will continue to play a leading role in advancing our shared values of democracy and freedom.

Sir Kim Darroch is the UK’s Ambassador to the US READ MORE at telegraph.co.uk/opinion

When I first saw those incendiary leaks of Theresa May’s proposal last Thursday which neatly erased the significant red lines of her own Brexit policy, I thought this was either the most aggressive, uncharacteristically reckless provocation to her dangerous Cabinet colleagues imaginable – or else it was a set-up. Yes, that was surely it: this had to be a deliberate, belligerent challenge from which she could then make a few tactical retreats at the theatrical Chequers event. That way, the Brexiteers could emerge claiming they had won concessions and she could maintain that her position had survived essentially intact. All the hype would produce an “agreement” in which everybody could claim to have saved face.

I should have known better. Mrs May is not a tactician of that sort. She does not play clever duplicitous games to achieve a misleading impression. Which you might think is a refreshing thing in a political leader. No tricks, no illusions. What you see is what you get. But there is another side to that straight simplicity. You might call it