Trump Calls EU A ‘Foe’ To The United States

In an interview with CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, President Donald Trump called the European Union a “foe” to the United States, according to The Daily Beast. The President also went on to further suggest that America’s allies in the EU are more of a threat to the U.S. than Russia.

After being asked who he thinks is America’s largest global competitor or foe, Trump responded, “Well, I think we have a lot of foes.”

“I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade,” he continued. “Now you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe. Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they’re a foe.”

Trump then claimed, however, that being a foe to the U.S. is not necessarily a bad thing, adding that it just makes them competitive. “They want to do well and we want to do well,” the President said.

After briefly touting and listing his own accomplishments, Trump said the “EU is very difficult,” and then went on to declare his respect for the various leaders of the EU.

“I love those countries,” he claimed.

Almost immediately afterward, however, the President began to criticize EU member states, accusing them of having “taken advantage” of the United States through trade deals and NATO spending.

“In a trade sense,” Trump said, “they’ve really taken advantage of us and many of those countries are in NATO and they weren’t paying their bills and, you know, as an example a big problem with Germany.”

Going on to criticize Germany, in particular, and the country’s pipeline deal with Russia, Trump continued, “They’re going to be paying Russia billions and billions of dollars a year for energy and I say that’s not good, that’s not fair. You’re supposed to be fighting for someone and then that someone gives billions of dollars to the one you’re, you know, guarding against, I think it’s ridiculous so I let that be known also this time.”

“I’ll tell you what,” the President added, “there’s a lot of anger at the fact that Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars. There’s a lot of anger.” Trump, however, did not specify where he believes this anger is coming from.

Continuing on, he said, “I also think it’s a very bad thing for Germany. Because it’s like – what are they waving a white flag?”