European Council President Donald Tusk fired back at President Trump after Trump declared the European Union (EU) one of his biggest global foes.
Tusk accused Trump of spreading “fake news” with a comment Trump made during an interview with CBS News that aired Sunday.
“America and the EU are best friends,” Tusk tweeted. “Whoever says we are foes is spreading fake news.”
In the interview, CBS News’s Jeff Glor asked Trump what he considers his biggest foe globally, prompting Trump to lament the EU’s trade policies.
“I think we have a lot of foes,” Trump responded. “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.”
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The president went on to add that Russia and China are also on his list of adversaries.
“Russia is foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn’t mean they are bad,” he said. “It doesn’t mean anything. It means that they are competitive. They want to do well and we want to do well.”
Trump then said that he could not take a fully combative stance to the EU because “both” of his parents were born there. His mother was born in Scotland, while his father was born in New York.
“You know I love those countries. I respect the leaders of those countries,” Trump said. “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.”
The comments come as Trump continues to target the EU with tariffs on aluminum and steel imports and criticize NATO members over defense spending.