National

Trump calls European Union a 'foe'

The European Union is a "foe" of the United States because of "what they do to us in trade," President Donald Trump said Sunday.

In an interview at the president's golf club in Turnberry, Scotland, with CBS Evening News anchor Jeff Glor, Trump said the United States has many foes, and being a foe was not necessarily a bad thing.

"You wouldn't think of the European Union, but they're a foe. Russia is a foe in certain respects," he said. "China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. ... It means that they are competitive."

The president pressed his frequent complaint that other nations take advantage of the United States via trade deals.

"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."

In Brussels last week, Trump berated NATO allies over their defense spending. Four NATO members – the United States, the United Kingdom, Estonia and Greece – meet the requirements of a plan under which countries contribute 2 percent of their nation's economic output to defense.

"Many countries in NATO, which we are expected to defend, are not only short of their current commitment of 2% (which is low), but are also delinquent for many years in payments that have not been made. Will they reimburse the U.S.?" Trump tweeted last week.

Trump, who will meet Monday with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, has not been so tough on the Russian president. In tweets Sunday, he blasted Democrats and the news media but had no harsh words for Putin.

"Heading to Helsinki, Finland – looking forward to meeting with President Putin tomorrow," Trump tweeted. "Unfortunately, no matter how well I do at the Summit, if I was given the great city of Moscow as retribution for all of the sins and evils committed by Russia over the years, I would return to criticism that it wasn’t good enough – that I should have gotten Saint Petersburg in addition!

"Much of our news media is indeed the enemy of the people  and all the Dems know how to do is resist and obstruct!"