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5/5/17

EU: Trump to meet EU chiefs at Bruxelles NATO mtg.during his first overseas trip

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with European Union (EU) chiefs during his first overseas trip later this month since taking office, a spokesman of European Council President Donald Tusk confirmed on Friday.

"Confirmed. @eucopresident and @JunckerEU will meet @realDonaldTrump in Brussels on 25 May," spokesman Preben Aamann tweeted, referring to Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Days after Trump took office on Jan. 20, Tusk branded the new U.S President's "worrying declarations" as an external threat, which, along with other factors, "make our future highly unpredictable".

"Particularly the change in Washington puts the European Union (EU) in a difficult situation, with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy," Tusk said in a letter to leaders of EU member states in Jan. 31, ahead of the Valletta Summit.

Trump is scheduled to attend NATO summit in Brussels and G7 summit in Italy later this month.

The White House announced Thursday in a statement that Trump's trip will include additional stops in Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Vatican.

Note EU-Digest: Hopefully the EU Commission can understand that it is absolutely unnecessary to keep brown-nosing the US Trump Administration, specially when they have three key negotiating advantages in dealing with them . 

1) Without EU participation in the NATO, it will becomes a paper tiger

2)  Trade:The scale and interconnected nature of the transatlantic economic relationship is unparalleled in the world, with the EU and U.S. together accounting for nearly 30 percent of global merchandise trade, about 40 percent of world trade in services, and well over half of foreign direct investment. In 2012, 45 of 50 U.S. states exported more to Europe than to China – by a wide margin in many cases.

3) A breakup of the EU would be suicidal for US  and the EU - since it would be an impossible task for the US to get every present EU member aligned as individual countries, within the framework of US economic and military objectives and  policies.  

Consequently the Trump administration is playing with fire by showing support for populist nationalist European  political  personalities, whose potential election success could cause major political, social and economic upheaval around the world and specifically for the health of the US economy. 

The EU Commission must take their heads out of the sand and start playing some hardball with the US to make Mr. Trump understand they are not his lap dog. It is as simple as that. 

Read more: Trump to meet EU chiefs in his first overseas trip - Xinhua | English.news.cn

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