EU

#PresidentTrump: 'We are not very sure what exactly Trump’s foreign policy agenda is'

Published

10 years ago

November 10, 2016

The election of Donald Trump as the 45th President of the United States will undoubtedly affect the country’s relations with the EU. Not only could it have an impact on the ongoing negotiations for free-trade agreement TTIP, there could also be repercussions for the other pillar of Euro-American cooperation, NATO. The European Parliament talked to German EPP member David McAllister (pictured), chairman of Parliament's delegation for relations with the United States, what Europe can expect from a Trump presidency.

What will the outcome of the elections mean for Europe?
Foreign policy, and especially Europe, did not play a large role in the American presidential campaign so we know a lot about Mr Trump on the one hand, but we are not very sure what exactly his foreign policy agenda is, so we just have to wait and see now. Who is he going to appoint as an adviser, who is he going to appoint as cabinet members and will his policies diverge from the rhetoric we have been hearing in the last few weeks and months?

I hope that our good trans-Atlantic co-operation can continue. I think President Juncker, President Tusk and President Schulz were very clear in their statements today: how much we Europeans are interested in not only continuing our good trans-Atlantic cooperation, but even strengthening it in these challenging times in the 21st century. It’s up to the President to show us if he is also interested in strengthening the partnership.
How do you think this will affect TTIP?

Trump is critical on free-trade agreements. He wants to reverse the NAFTA agreement. He was very critical on TPP. The planned TTIP agreement with us Europeans did not play such a central role in the presidential campaign. I think we will just have to wait and see what the next Trump administration will have for ideas.

I believe trade negotiations with the Trump administration will be more difficult than under an Obama administration.

What impact will it have on the NATO partnership?
NATO is the main pillar for our security in Europe. We are very much interested in having a good and close co-operation with our American allies when it comes to external security, but also to fight the challenges of international terrorism.

I expect President Trump to ask us in Europe to do more for our own security and that’s why this call from America will lead, in my view, to a closer cooperation on defence and security within the European partners in the NATO framework.

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