The week Donald Trump jostled his European allies

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From the NATO summit to his visit to the United Kingdom, back on the highlights of his European tour, before the meeting scheduled for Monday in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin

In just a few days in Europe, Donald Trump jostled his allies, with the taste of provocation that is his.

• Germany takes for its rank

BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP

Accused of paying billions for gas and oil purchases from Russia instead of contributing to defense spending, Germany suffered the wrath of the US president at the summit of the NATO in Brussels. "Germany is completely controlled by Russia (…) she is a prisoner of Russia," Donald Trump said Wednesday, the first day of the summit. After a bilateral meeting with Angela Merkel, Donald Trump changes tone, assures to have "very good relations" with the German Chancellor.

»READ ALSO – Trump denounces a Germany" totally controlled "by the Kremlin

But the US President renews his attacks the next day: "Germany has just started to pay Russia, the country it wants to protect itself, billions of dollars for its energy needs from a new gas pipeline from Russia. This is unacceptable! ", He tweeted, aiming at the project to double the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.

• Trump to NATO allies:" Take out the checkbook "[19659010] Donald Trump speaks at a press conference on the second day of the NATO summit on July 12. “/>

Still at the NATO summit, Donald Trump provokes the consternation of his allies by asking them to increase their defense spending to 4% of their GDP, with many messages on Twitter and declarations to bad payers. In the end, the commitment to devote 2% of their GDP to defense spending for 2024 remains in the joint statement approved Wednesday by the leaders of the 29 member countries of the Alliance.

But Donald Trump cries victory in ensuring having obtained the commitment of the Allies to accelerate the pace to increase their military expenditures: "They agreed to pay and pay more quickly", he trumpets.

"READ ALSO – At the NATO summit, Trump fired red bullets on his European "friends"

• In the United Kingdom: the pavement in the Brexit

Arrived Thursday in the UK for his first official visit to the country, Donald Trump stunned the British with a shock interview in the tabloid The Sun . The US president assures that London's willingness to favor a close relationship with the EU would "probably" kill the possibility of concluding a free trade agreement with the United States after Brexit. While the controversy swells, the real estate mogul comes back on his remarks Friday at a press conference with Prime Minister Theresa May.

»READ ALSO – Trump throws a pavement in the Brexit

« What that you do, it suits me, "he says, displaying his desire to reach a" formidable "agreement with London. The interview at Sun also contains a series of unkind statements about Theresa May. Brexit? "I would have done it very differently," says Donald Trump, who drives the point by considering that former Foreign Minister Boris Johnson, potential challenger for Theresa May and who resigned due to a Brexit deemed too soft , would make "a great prime minister".

Here again, the American president shows another face at the press conference on Friday, and deplores the way the tabloid has transcribed his remarks. Theresa May is "a very good negotiator, very tough, she is very intelligent, very determined," he says.

»READ ALSO – Brexit: Trump looks back on his criticism of May

A few days after this visit: President Trump seems to have broken the royal protocol by making public his private conversation with Queen Elizabeth II. A conversation that focused specifically on the Brexit: according to Donald Trump, Elizabeth II believes that Brexit is a "very complex problem."

• Putin, the "easiest"

It may be with respect to the Russian president that Donald Trump has finally been the most conciliatory. Even before the NATO summit, the US president said the historic meeting scheduled for Monday with his Russian counterpart could be the "easiest". "We have been much firmer on Russia than anyone," he also said on Friday, as the shadow of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 campaign weighs on his presidency. "That being said, if we can develop a relationship" with Putin, "it would be fantastic."

"READ ALSO – Trump and Putin will meet on July 16 in Helsinki