EU’s Tusk tells Trump: ‘Appreciate your allies’

Trudeau urges ‘firm response’ to Russia ahead of NATO summit

BRUSSELS, July 10, (Agencies): European Union President Donald Tusk delivered a blunt message to US President Donald Trump on Tuesday on the eve of a NATO summit in Brussels, telling him to “appreciate your allies”.

Trump has ramped up criticism of European defence spending in recent days, stressing how many EU members are failing to meet agreed targets for investments, which has raised fears the NATO summit could lead to another bustup in the transatlantic alliance.

Speaking at a signing ceremony for a new EU-NATO cooperation agreement, Tusk used the opportunity to send a personal message to Trump, who is due to arrive in the Belgian capital later Tuesday.

“I would like to address president Trump directly who for a long time now has been criticising Europe almost daily,” the former Polish prime minister said.

“The US doesn’t have and won’t have a better ally than the EU. We spend on defence much more than Russia and as much as China,” he added. “Dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have that many.”

He concluded with a reminder that European troops had fought and lost their lives alongside Americans in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. “Please remember this tomorrow when we meet at the NATO summit, but above all when you meet President (Vladimir) Putin in Helsinki. It is always worth knowing who is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem,” he said.

Meanwhile, Trump will meet the Russian leader in the Finnish capital on July 16.

President Trump launched a weeklong Europe trip Tuesday with harsh criticism for NATO allies and predicted the “easiest” leg of his journey would be his scheduled sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said Tuesday he “can’t say right now” if Putin is a friend or foe, but called him a “competitor.” The US intelligence community has concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election to boost Trump’s candidacy, and warns of further attempts at interference both in the 2018 midterms and in European elections.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday urged NATO to send a “clear and firm response” to Russia at its summit this week, blaming Moscow for a deadly nerve agent attack in Britain and other destabilising actions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “invasion of Crimea, his interference in the Donbass, his actions elsewhere around the world ... most notably on UK soil, in Salisbury, are things that require a clear and firm response,” Trudeau told reporters in the Latvian capital Riga.

A key NATO summit opens in Brussels on Wednesday, with the agenda including US President Donald Trump’s demands for extra spending from allies along with the growing threat members see from Russia on its eastern flank.