Aides to US President-elect Donald Trump recently asked EU officials over the phone which countries will be next to leave the bloc after Britain, outgoing US ambassador to the EU Anthony Gardner said.
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Mr Scaramucci, who will enter the White House on Friday as a senior adviser to the president, acknowledged that Mr Trump’s comments had been received by many as an attack on the European community, but dismissed reports of a feud between the United States and German administrations.
Trump also added: “Number two the countries weren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying”.
Germany’s Left Party has previously called for warmer ties with Russian Federation and scrapping the security alliance, measures which appear to be policy concerns for the incoming United States administration.
He also said that many members of the alliance do not invest the required percentage of their GDPs in defence.
European leaders have been holding their breath to see just what happens after Mr Trump’s inauguration on Friday.
“I think it’s very tough”, Trump said. In the interview, Trump said “I believe others will leave”.
President-elect Donald Trump’s remarks that North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is obsolete have caused concern at the US-led military alliance and also appeared at odds with his own officials, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday (Jan 16).
But, as he summed up the talks afterward, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier confirmed that remarks Trump made over the weekend to British and German newspapers – disparaging the EU, NATO and Angela Merkel herself – had been all anyone talked about.
His comments come despite him prompting fears of a new arms race late a year ago when he said America needed to “greatly strengthen and expand” its nuclear capability. We have to see what it will yield in terms of USA foreign policy.
Asked whether the U.S. would prefer a strong European Union or stronger nation states, he replied: “Personally, I don’t think it matters much for the United States”.
The agreement “has delivered both on the nuclear-related commitments Iran took and on the firm determination of the global community to fully implement this deal”, she said. Trump has offered views on US relations with Asia that could indicate radical shifts in long-standing policy toward the region.
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“Other countries will leave” the European Union in future, Trump predicted, largely due to the pressure the bloc was put under following a surge in arrivals of migrants and refugees fleeing war in Syria and elsewhere. This then led to a discussion about Syrian refugees, which he claimed was “the final straw that broke the camel’s back”.
