Why Europeans love Obama, loathe Trump
Past, present U.S. presidents draw far different reactions
@orendorell USA TODAY
Barack Obama and Donald Trump appeared in public at the same time in Europe on Thursday, but reactions could not have been starker.
The former president received a rock-star welcome in Berlin, while his successor garnered looks of bewilderment from European leaders in Brussels.
Here are some reasons so many Europeans love Obama and loathe Trump.
NATO
Trump chastised his colleagues for not contributing enough to their collective defense.
“NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations,” Trump said. “Twenty-three of 28 nations in the alliance are not paying what they should be paying for their defense. This is very unfair to the taxpayers of the USA.”
During the campaign, Trump called NATO obsolete and said that before sending U.S. troops to defend Europe, he would check whether members had met their defense spending obligations. He later backtracked on both issues and has promised to increase the U.S. military presence in Europe.
Obama, who reduced the U.S. military presence in Europe before increasing it after Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, never raised any doubts about the U.S. commitment to the alliance and had a more cooperative approach with European leaders.
EUROPEAN UNION
Trump angered European leaders in January when he told British Prime Minister Theresa May that the British exit from the European Union “is going to be a wonderful thing for your country.” The move, approved in a referendum in June 2016, would help Britain re-establish its own identity, control immigration and engage in trade with whomever it wants, Trump said.
The reaction was harsh. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in March that he would campaign for the secession of U.S. states if Trump continued with such talk.
On Thursday, Trump seemed to have changed his tune. He privately told European leaders he is worried U.S. jobs could be lost because of Brexit, according to local media reports.
Pro-EU Obama warned before the historic vote that “the U.K. is at its best when it’s helping to lead a strong European Union.”
INTELLIGENCE LEAKS
May complained to Trump on Thursday about crime scene photos from Monday’s suicide bombing in Manchester, England, which were shared with intelligence agencies in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries, being leaked to The New York Times. It was the latest controversy involving intelligence leaks during Trump’s presidency.
The White House said the alleged leaks “are deeply troubling ” and promised it “will get to the bottom of this,” and, “if appropriate, the culprit should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Obama also angered his European counterparts when WikiLeaks in 2013 published documents provided by National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden that showed the U.S. intelligence agency had spied on foreign leaders. They included German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who hosted Obama’s visit Thursday. Obama smoothed things over with his European counterparts, implementing changes he said would end U.S. spying on leaders of allies.
IMMIGRATION
Trump has criticized EU immigration policies, which the president says welcome too many Muslim refugees who could pose a terror threat.
In 2016, Trump told Fox Business Network: “You go to Brussels — I was in Brussels a long time ago, 20 years ago, so beautiful, everything is so beautiful. It’s like living in a hellhole right now.”
Obama sent a clear message Thursday to Trump about his promise to build a wall along the Mexican border: “In this new world we live in, we can’t isolate ourselves — we can’t hide behind a wall.”
Immigration is a divisive issue in Europe that helped Brexit pass and has fueled insurgent political campaigns across the continent. However, French anti-immigration candidate Marine Le Pen, who Trump supported, was soundly defeated for president this month. And Merkel appears to be in a strong position for re-election in September, even though she welcomed 1 million migrants to Germany.
“In this new world we live in ... we can’t hide behind a wall.”
CLIMATE CHANGE
Trump has called global warming a “hoax,” while Obama is a strong proponent of environmental measures to combat climate change. That is in line with European thinking on the issue.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday urged Trump avoid hasty decisions on a global Paris climate treaty signed by Obama in 2016. Trump said as a candidate he would abandon the landmark pact.
Pope Francis, another leading voice for environmental concerns, on Wednesday urged Trump to change his stance on the issue, giving him as a gift a copy of his encyclical on climate change.