President urges NATO members to spend more on defence

The U.S. and the EU are not in complete alignment regarding their worldviews and policies. This was part of the message a sombre Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, delivered to the press after his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Brussels on Thursday morning. The meetings, which included the heads of the EU’s executive and foreign policy wings as well as the President of the European Parliament, went on for longer than scheduled.

Mr. Trump is in Brussels for a NATO summit and the Europeans are wasting no time in trying to reach out to him, prompted by the fact that he has expressed scepticism about the EU, praised Brexit, and called NATO “obsolete”. Mr. Trump’s protectionist positions on trade and environment and his relationship with Russia have been of concern to Europeans, for whom the transatlantic relationship is the defining partnership of the post-war world order.

Mr. Trump discussed foreign policy, security, climate and trade relations with the EU, Mr. Tusk told reporters. “My feeling is that we agreed on many areas. First and foremost, on counterterrorism and I am sure I don’t have to explain why. But some issues remain open like climate and trade and I am not 100% sure that we — we means Mr. President and myself — that we have a common position, a common opinion, about Russia,” he said, adding that he and Mr. Trump were in agreement about Ukraine. The EU and the U.S. are among the countries and international bodies that have imposed sanctions on Russia following its annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Mr. Tusk also called for a values rather than interest based partnership. “The greatest task today is the consolidation of the whole free world around those values not just interests. Values and principles first, this is what we Europe and America should be saying.”

Meeting with Macron

Later, Mr. Trump had his first meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, which began with Mr. Macron matching Mr. Trump’s characteristically firm and prolonged handshake with a tight grip of his own. The meeting was an opportunity for Mr. Macron to discuss various differences the two Presidents have — including international trade and the environment. Mr. Trump has said the U.S. is reconsidering its participation in the Paris climate agreement.

The discussion was “good, frank, warm” and centred around “pragmatism”, Mr. Macron told a group of journalists at the European Commission shortly after the lunch. “We don’t interpret things in the same way, but we spoke frankly,” he said. Regarding climate change, Mr. Macron said he respected the fact that Mr. Trump had reviewed the Paris agreement, adding, “No hasty decision should be taken on this subject by the United States.”

NATO summit

World leaders gathered at the new headquarters of NATO for a ceremony to mark its transfer from the Belgian government to the 28-country alliance. The ceremony started with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr. Trump dedicating a memorial that contains fragments of the Berlin Wall and a piece of twisted metal from the Twin Towers that fell on September 11, 2001.

During his dedication speech, Mr. Trump condemned the Manchester terror attack earlier this week, which killed 22 people.

In what appeared to be a reference to the refugee crisis, Mr. Trump said: “You have thousands and thousands of people pouring into our various countries, and spreading throughout and in many cases we have no idea who they are... The NATO of the future must include a great focus on terrorism and immigration as well as threats from Russia and on NATO’s eastern and southern borders.”

Mr. Trump said 23 of the 28 NATO members were not paying what they should be paying for their defence, adding that it was not fair on the taxpayers of the U.S. “And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money for past years and not paying in those past years.” The distribution of financial and operational responsibility will be one of the two main topics at this year’s summit, the other being combating terrorism.

Earlier in the day, NATO secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would officially join the U.S.-led coalition to fight the so-called Islamic State. All 28 members are already part of the coalition and NATO shares aerial surveillance data with the coalition and participates in training local forces in Afghanistan and Iraq. While it will officially join the coalition, Mr. Stoltenberg confirmed that NATO will get directly involved in combat. Joining the coalition, he said, would be symbolic as well as ease and scale up coordination that was already in place.