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Tusk’s letter comes as European leaders from Germany to Iceland to Britain condemn Trump’s immigration ban, and a day after Guy Verhofstadt, the EU’s lead negotiator for Brexit talks, similarly characterized the U.S. president as a threat to the union on par with jihadist terrorism and Vladimir Putin. “Trump spoke very favorably of the fact that also other countries will want to break away from the European Union, and that he hoped for a disintegration of the European Union,” Verhofstadt said during a speech in London.

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The “change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy,” Tusk wrote. Europe should try to preserve its close relations with the United States, he argued, but the EU should also respond to Trump’s protectionist trade policies by “intensifying” its trade talks with other countries. (The EU is the second-largest supplier of imports to the U.S. and America’s second-largest export market.)

Tinny

Feb 5 2017, 03:36 AM

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/01/tusk-europe-trump/515154/

Exactly what the title says. In particular we have this quote

Quote:

 

Tusk’s letter comes as European leaders from Germany to Iceland to Britain condemn Trump’s immigration ban, and a day after Guy Verhofstadt, the EU’s lead negotiator for Brexit talks, similarly characterized the U.S. president as a threat to the union on par with jihadist terrorism and Vladimir Putin. “Trump spoke very favorably of the fact that also other countries will want to break away from the European Union, and that he hoped for a disintegration of the European Union,” Verhofstadt said during a speech in London.

Quote:

 

The “change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy,” Tusk wrote. Europe should try to preserve its close relations with the United States, he argued, but theU should also respond to Trump’s protectionist trade policies by “intensifying” its trade talks with other countries. (The EU is the second-largest supplier of imports to the U.S. and America’s second-largest export market.)

And for my part, if the EU gets alienated enough, I imagine the arms embargo on China gets lifted, and we can expect them to catch up militarily in about 5 years instead of decades.

Sigh. This is why I see America fading to a regional power within my lifetime, especially if Trump is an indication of where we're heading.

Tinny

Feb 5 2017, 04:15 AM

If you alienate them enough I don't see why they wouldn't begin to look to others as trading partners and as (likely seen as more consistent) allies. As for it being an act of war... I have to question why trade with China would lead to a war with Eruope, it will however severely limit American power in the world if China is able to close the military gap, and likely accelerate our probably decline into a regional power.

In any case, dear lord, I hope that people learn from this presidential term.

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China is the USA's main rival, and you keep implying that you(EU) will enable(China) them to finally destroy America which is an act of war. And will NOT happen without resistance.

Daemon Keido

Feb 5 2017, 04:32 AM

The act has not been overturned, merely suspended until such time as it is debated in a court of law. It could still get enforced if the TRO is overruled.

Copy_Ninja

Feb 5 2017, 04:35 AM

To be fair, the EU lifting an arms embargo on China isn't treason. Treason is when you betray your own country.

That's a massive leap in logic though, I don't really see any kind of military diversion to China. NATO is still the most important military alliance in the world. Even though Trump is critical of it, even he has walked back his earlier off the cuff threat about withdrawing from it because even he knows that would be stupid. China is also one of the most insular major countries, the kind of assistance NATO countries get from the US aint going to come from China thats for damn sure.

What the EU said just makes sense though. Trump is looking to pursue protectionist policies that could be bad for exports. Note I said could, not would. It all depends on what he does because outside of criticising NAFTA and the TPP, he's been pretty vague on what the rest of his trade policy will actually be. On the evidence of the rest of what he's said though, things like higher tariffs for imports could be possible. The EU should be considering other options (though they should be doing this anyway, pretty dumb to put so many eggs in one basket regardless).

Edit 2:

Quote:

 

China is the USA's main rival, and you keep implying that you(EU) will enable(China) them to finally destroy America which is an act of war. And will NOT happen without resistance.

China is not interested in destroying the US. China is only interested in China. They clash with the US a lot because the two countries have fundamentally different outlooks and conflicting interest in stuff like the South China Sea. Militarily, China only ever gets involved in things that either directly effects its interests (like the SCS) or with peacekeeping operations. They aren't ones for big scale military interventions.

Daemon Keido

Feb 5 2017, 04:47 AM

You are assuming there wasn't vetting to begin with. The fact is, nothing he has said he would do is any different from what was being done. The "extreme vetting" he championed was already happening. But because nobody mentioned this beforehand, he could claim it was all his idea without something pesky like actual credit from being mentioned. And by the time it got reported it was a simple thing indeed to say that it only was happening NOW because everyone knew Trump was gonna win so it might as well start up before he takes power.

Nagito Komaeda

Feb 5 2017, 05:10 AM

If he's presumably basing this order on the danger these countries may face, how can he justify leaving it out?