President Donald Trump Omar Marques | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

President Donald Trump praised individual freedom and sovereignty on Thursday in comments apparently directed at the Europe Union. In a speech in Warsaw, Poland, Trump condemned government bureaucracy as an infringement of personal freedom. "On both sides of the Atlantic, our citizens are confronted by yet another danger — one firmly within our control. This danger is invisible to some but familiar to the Poles. The steady creep of government bureaucracy that drains the vitality and the wealth of people," he said, speaking next the monument to the 1944 Warsaw uprising at Krasinski Square. "The West became great not because of paperwork and regulations but because people were allowed to chase their dreams and pursue their destinies."

The president also condemned what he sees as the other major "threat" to individual freedom — terrorism — and called on international allies to work together to combat extremism and increased provocations from North Korea. This comes after the totalitarian state test launched an intercontinental ballistics missile on the Fourth of July that experts said was capable of hitting Alaska. The statements should help to reassure observers in Poland and across the NATO alliance, who have questioned the new U.S. administration's commitment to collective defense amid disputes over contribution levels. "The fundamental question of our time is whether the West has the will to survive," Trump said, urging action ahead of this weekend's G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.