Donald Trump has doubled down on his administration’s recent criticism of Europe, describing it as “weak” and “decaying” and claiming it was “destroying itself” through immigration.
In a rambling interview with Politico, a transcript of which was released on Tuesday, the US president recycled far-right tropes about European immigration.
In often halting remarks, Mr Trump swerved from subject to subject while rehearsing familiar grudges and conspiracies. He also declined repeatedly to rule out sending American troops into Venezuela as part of his effort to bring down the president, Nicolás Maduro.
The US president repeatedly described what he said were Europe’s problems in entirely racial terms, calling some unnamed European leaders “real stupid”.
READ MORE
“If it keeps going the way it’s going, Europe will not be … in my opinion … many of those countries will not be viable countries any longer. Their immigration policy is a disaster. What they’re doing with immigration is a disaster. We had a disaster coming, but I was able to stop it.”
The interview followed the release last week of a new US national security strategy that claimed Europe faced “civilisational erasure” because of mass migration and offered tacit support for far-right parties.
The recent interventions by Mr Trump and his administration on Europe have been greeted with mounting dismay among European leaders, after similarly disparaging remarks by the US vice-president, JD Vance, at the Munich Security Conference in February.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended the EU’s global status and strength on Tuesday.
“Europe is one of the strongest continents in the world in terms of economic strength. That is manifested in the EU-US trade agreement, which was a recognition of the strength of Europe economically,” said Mr Martin.
“Europe remains the biggest donor to conflict areas all over the world, also to Africa and to sustainability across the world,” he said.
The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, rejected the notion that European democracy needed saving and described some elements of the new national security strategy as unacceptable.
Mr Merz said on Tuesday that the policy document underscored the need for a European security policy more independent of Washington.
“Some of it is unacceptable for us from the European point of view,” he told reporters during a visit to the city of Mainz.
[ US national strategy advocates ‘cultivating resistance’ in EuropeOpens in new window ]
“That the Americans want to save democracy in Europe now, I don’t see any need for that … If it needed to be saved, we would manage that alone.”
Mr Merz was speaking after the EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, had earlier described the White House document as a provocation.
The president of the European Council, António Costa, said on Monday that Washington signalling it would back Europe’s nationalist parties was unacceptable. “What we cannot accept is the threat to interfere in European politics,” he said.
“Now it’s clear, Vance’s speech in Munich and the many tweets of president Trump have become official doctrine of the United States, and we must act accordingly.”
Commenting on changes he said were occurring in big European cities such as London and Paris, Mr Trump said: “[In] Europe, they’re coming in from all parts of the world. Not just the Middle East, they’re coming in from the Congo, tremendous numbers of people coming from the Congo. And even worse, they’re coming from prisons of the Congo and many other countries.” - The Guardian
