Trump casts EU as a ‘foe’ on trade ahead of Putin summit

Bernd von Jutrczenka | dpa | picture alliance | Getty Images

Donald Trump, President of The United States, speaks at a press conference at the end of the NATO summit, July 12, 2018.

President Donald Trump said the European Union is a “foe” of the United States for “what they do to us in trade,” adding “that doesn’t mean they are bad,” in an interview aired on Sunday by CBS’s “Face the Nation” news program.

Asked who is the United States’ biggest foe globally, Trump said, “Well I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade. 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.”

The president’s remarks dovetailed with comments from European Council President Donald Tusk, who posted on Twitter that the U.S. and Europe were “best friends. Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.”