Donald Trump and top EU officials, in their first face-to-face meeting in Brussels Thursday, confronted an uneasy new transatlantic relationship with large questions marks looming over issues like free trade and climate change.
There was plenty of back-slapping as the new U.S. President paid his first official visit to the headquarters of the EU — which he undermined in his election campaign by backing Brexit — ahead of a summit at NATO, an alliance he once described as “obsolete.”
But while the EU leaders described the meeting as “cordial” and “friendly,” it was clear that the new and unpredictable American president had not offered reassurances on some core areas of concern for Brussels.
European Council President Donald Tusk said they had found common ground on fighting terrorism, and appeared to be “on the same line” about the conflict in Ukraine. But Tusk said there were unresolved questions on trade and climate change – two topics that will be addressed at the G7 summit in Sicily which Trump will attend on Friday and Saturday.
He reserved his most pointed remarks for the U.S. position on Russia though. “I am not sure that we can say 100 percent today that we have a common position, common opinion about Russia,” Tusk said.
The U.S. President, whose “America First” instincts and Euroskeptic campaign rhetoric have rattled the EU, met Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and other top EU officials before heading off to lunch with the new French president, Emmanuel Macron. Trump said it was “a great honor” to meet Macron and described his election win this month as a “tremendous victory.”
During the campaign, Trump called Macron’s Euroskeptic, far-right challenger Marine Le Pen “the strongest [candidate] on what’s been going on in France,” though he stopped short of endorsing her.
While EU officials were pleased the president decided to visit them so soon in his presidency — Barack Obama waited until midway into his second term, in March 2014 — they were eager for clues on how he intends to deal with Europe. For his overnight stay, the U.S. President had a choice of three vacant American embassies to sleep in — to Belgium, the EU and NATO — because he has yet to nominate an ambassador to any of them.
“My main message to President Trump was what gives our cooperation and friendship its deepest meaning are fundamental Western values, like freedom, human rights, respect for human dignity,” Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, told reporters. “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 Europe and American should be saying.”
At NATO, where Trump was due at a summit later in the day, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the key themes would be increasing military spending and fighting terrorism, including plans for creating a new “terrorism intelligence cell” at the alliance headquarters.
“We have two major items on our agenda: Stepping up NATO’s role in the fight against terrorism and fairer burden sharing in our alliance,” Stoltenberg said.
In a reminder for Trump, who has previously expressed doubts about the alliance, Stoltenberg noted pointedly: “Our largest military operation ever was launched in Afghanistan in a direct response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States.”
Stoltenberg also announced that the alliance would take concrete steps to beef up its counterterrorism operations.
“We will agree to establish a new terrorism intelligence cell here at NATO headquarters,” he said. “Improving how we share intelligence, including on foreign fighters. And we will decide to appoint a coordinator to oversee NATO’s efforts in the fight against terrorism.”
‘Some issues remain open’
Trump was given a red-carpet welcome at EU headquarters, where the flags of the 28 European Union nations — soon to be 27 once Britain leaves — stood on one side and the Stars and Stripes and the EU’s blue flag with its circle of gold stars stood sentry on the other.
EU officials said before the talks that they had already been “positively surprised” by Vice President Mike Pence’s visit in February, adding that Pence managed to dispel “a lot of doubts about this administration.”
“Now it’s not about whether the EU or U.S. should cooperate but where cooperation should take place,” said the Commission official.
Now they hope to continue the conversation with Washington on major issues like terrorism, trade and what they call “fair globalization.” On climate change, EU leaders will try to convince Trump to maintain the Paris Climate agreement, but they don’t expect to reach any firm conclusions from Thursday’s talks.
“My feeling is we agreed on many areas, first of all on counter-terrorism and I am sure that I don’t have to explain why,” Tusk said. But he quickly noted: “Some issues remain open, like climate and trade.”
Trump can expect to be pressed further on the Paris accord at the G7 summit in Taormina, Sicily.
EU leaders feel they are in a stronger place to make their case to Trump about the benefits of a close transatlantic relationship since pro-EU politicians fended off challenges from populist Euroskeptics in elections in the Netherlands and France this year.
Trump for his part, got off to a bad start with Europe during his campaign by encouraging Brexit — which is considered a major setback by the 27 remaining EU countries. Since taking office, however, he has called for a “strong Europe” in his bilateral discussions with EU leaders.
As for his candidates for the vacant Brussels embassies, former Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is tipped as U.S. envoy to NATO and Republican Party mega-donor Georgette Mosbacher is being considered for the ambassador post to Belgium. There are fewer clues on who he’ll send to the EU embassy, though the candidacy of self-described favorite Ted Malloch is reported to be a non-starter.
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