Trump says meeting with Putin, not Nato, may be 'easiest'

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BRUSSELS: US President Donald Trump said Tuesday his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin "may be the easiest" part of his upcoming European tour as he clashed with EU allies ahead of a Nato summit.

Trump left Washington early Tuesday for Brussels where leaders of the Nato alliance are hoping for a show of unity despite stark transatlantic tensions on a host of issues.

Putin next Monday in Helsinki, Trump told reporters "frankly, Putin may be the easiest of all, who would think?"

he accuses the United States of America of its defense while blocking US imports into the bloc, the world's biggest market.

"It's certainly going to be an interesting time with Nato," Trump told reporters. "

The meeting of Western leaders in Brussels has the potential to turn to another public bust-up G7 nations in Canada in June.

The summit is one of the most difficult in years of European security. years.

European Union President Donald Tusk delivered a blunt message to the US leader on Tuesday, saying "the US and the United States. better than the EU. "

" I would like to address President Trump directly to the world. "(19659002)" Dear America, enjoy your allies, after all or do not have that many, "he added, before reminding Trump that European troops had fought alongside Americans in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

" Please remember this day when we meet at the Nato summit, but above all when you meet President (Vladimir) Putin in Helsinki. It is always worth knowing who is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem, "he said.

Trump will meet the Russian leader in the Finnish capital on July 16 for their first summit amid an ongoing investigation in the US into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia.

A relic

Many European diplomats fear a re-run of a sequence in June when Trump clashed with Western allies at the G7 summit Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "dishonest and weak", then praising North Korean dictator Kim Jong A "very talented" at a summit afterwards.

"He chews out the allies then embraces the adversary," one diplomat told AFP recently.

The Kremlin branded Nato has a relic of the Cold War ahead of the Brussels summit.

"Our attitude to Nato is well known: it's a product of the Cold War and the confrontation of the Cold War, "Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told day nalists.

Trump set the stage for clashes at the Nato summit by writing to around allies to berate them for lagging on a 2014 pledge to try to spend 2% of GDP on defense by 2024.

Speaking to a This article is only available in French. Trump told reporters that they would not care for "the schmucks paying for the whole thing."

Britain, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania and Romania – would reach the 2% of GDP spending target in 2018.

Nato chief goal Jens Stoltenberg pointed out that military spending had been rising in Europe since 2014 and members were making Germany, which is often singled out by Trump.

"Germany has plans to increase spending by 80% from 2014 to 2024. So Germany is moving in the right direction goal I expect Germany to do more, "he told a press conference. 9002] Europe's biggest economy is on race to spend just 1.24% of GDP on defense in 2018. – AFP

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