[ad_1]
By Jeff Mason, Robin Emmott and Alissa de Carbonnel
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump on Wednesday accused Germany of being a "captive" of Russia because of its energy dependence, A NATO summit where he pressed his allies to more than double the defense spending
After blasting the NATO members for Not having reached the 2% target of national income for the defense, Trump said at this percentage would represent a mbadive upheaval of budget priorities in Europe, where Germany and many others have come to the fore. committed to reach only 2% by 2024 or later, and it was not clear what the allies were going to spend. At the end of the first session of a two-day summit, NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, said the primary goal was to reach 2%, but a few moments later Trump tweeted that the Allies 'exchange was part of an uncomfortable day while anxious Western allies were subject to the US president' s "American" approach first. "We are not prisoners of either Russia or the United States," German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas told the press
. Trump was sometimes enthusiastic and affable, exchanging hugs and handshakes with other leaders, posing for photos in front of a NATO military band and mingling with dinner in a Brussels museum
. in June, Trump did not block a final declaration of leaders, which paved the way for Macedonian membership and modernization of the alliance to further deter Moscow.
Trump entered the new glbad and steel of NATO. the seat and in the decision room of the North Atlantic Council as the amphitheater to shake hands with the leaders – but only after publicly insulting against Germany, one of the most Europe's major European powers, at a breakfast with Stolt
Trump told Stoltenberg that Germany was wrong to support a Baltic Sea oil pipeline of 11 billion dollars for import even more Russian gas while being slow to meet NATO spending targets
"We are supposed to guard against Russia, and Germany is coming out and pouring billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia, "said Trump in the presence of reporters.
"We protect Germany, we protect France, we protect all these countries, and then many countries come out and conclude a pipeline agreement with Russia, where they pour billions of dollars into the coffers of Russia, "he said," I find that very inappropriate. "
According to her, Berlin is funding a pipeline that Chancellor Angela Merkel says is a commercial venture.
She opposes her own experience of growing up in East Germany controlled by the Soviets with Sovereign and United Germany. Trump and Merkel subsequently held business talks: Trump said he had a "very, very good relationship" with Merkel, who described them as "good partners"
. French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump had expressed his "personal attachment" to Europe and gave "rather positive and constructive messages" to his allies.
"There is no break between America and Europe" Macron and Trump held "friendly" talks.
But with the tensions in the alliance that were hovering over Trump's trade tariffs on European steel, his previous comments fueled concerns over the US role in peacekeeping.
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel calls for "fair play" and respect for multilateralism.
The Baltic leaders, fearing the repetition of the annexation of Crimea by Russia, call for unity, while the Slovak President Andre Kiska These comments highlighted the risks for Trump's strategy by dividing the allies between those who spend the most for defense and those who do not spend it, like Belgium, Spain. , Italy and Luxembourg, but contributing with troops to NATO missions.
NATO's Stoltenberg told reporters that Trump, who will meet on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, used "
The NATO leader was also forthright about the l & # 39; impact of Trump's position at a broader level.
"There are disagreements on trade. It's serious. My task is to try to minimize the negative impact on NATO, "he said.
" Up to now, this has not been a lot of time. Impact on NATO. I can not guarantee that this will not be the case in the future. The transatlantic link is not one, there are many links, some have been weakened.
(Additional report by William James, Sabine Siebold, Humeyra Pamuk, Phil Stewart, Alastair Macdonald and Robin Emmott, Edition by Mark Heinrich and Robin Pomeroy)
This story does not have been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by self-feeding.
[ad_2]
Source link
