WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump named Russia, the EU and China as "foes", in an interview aired on Sunday on the eve of his summit with Vladimir Putin."Well I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade," Trump said on CBS’s "Face the Nation." "Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe. Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn’t mean they are bad. It doesn’t mean anything. It means that they are competitive," he said in the interview with CBS Evening News’s Jeff Glor, which was conducted on Saturday.Trump repeated his previous assertion that the European Union has "really taken advantage of us on trade." He also again complained that "it’s a very bad thing for Germany" that the country depends on Russian gas, for which it is paying "billions" to Moscow.The US has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum against the EU and other allies, sparking retaliation. A trade war is also underway with China after the US implemented tariffs for what it calls unfair trade practices by Beijing.“Russia,” Trump told CBS, “is foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn’t mean they are bad. It doesn’t mean anything. It means that they are competitive.” Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, used a loaded term to answer Trump on Twitter, writing: “America and the EU are best friends. Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.”On CBS, in response to the suggestion that “a lot of people might be surprised to hear you list the EU as a foe before China and Russia”, Trump said: “No I look at them all, look, EU is very difficult … but in a trade sense, they’ve really taken advantage of us and many of those countries are in Nato and they weren’t paying their bills and, you know, as an example a big problem with Germany.”The president then repeated his complaint, made at the Nato summit in Brussels, about a gas pipeline between Germany and Russia. “You’re supposed to be fighting for someone,” he said, “and then that someone gives billions of dollars to the one you’re, you know, guarding against. I think it’s ridiculous so I let that be known also this time.”Trump suggested Germany was “waving a white flag” to Russia. Among senior Democrats, concern remains that he may do just that when he meets Putin three days after 12 Russians were indicted over the theft of data from Democratic bodies ahead of the 2016 election.Trump told CBS he “hadn’t thought” about asking Putin to extradite the 12 intelligence officials but added: “But I certainly, I’ll be asking about it.” It is highly unlikely the Russians will ever be sent to the US. Putin has said Russians indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller – 13 other individuals and three entities were named in February – will “never” be extradited.Speaking to ABC’s This Week, national security adviser John Bolton said: “The United States does not have an extradition process with Russia so it’s pretty hard to imagine how that would happen.”It would be “pretty silly to demand something that (Trump) can’t get legally”, Bolton said, because “to demand something that isn’t going to happen puts the president in a weak position”.Trump was briefed on the indictments ahead of their announcement on Friday. Mueller is investigating election interference and links between Trump aides and Moscow. Four former Trump campaign figures, including his first national security adviser and a campaign manager, have been indicted.Trump denies collusion and has repeatedly called the Mueller investigation a “rigged witch hunt”. Speaking to CBS, he repeated a claim made in tweets from Scotland on Saturday – that his predecessor did not do enough in response to Russian interference. “But again,” Trump said, “this was during the Obama administration. They were doing whatever it was during the Obama administration.”
07-16-2018, 01:38 PM
Trump lists Russia, EU, China as ?foes? ahead of Putin summit
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