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President Donald Trump is expected to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer next week in Washington, D.C.
National security adviser Mike Waltz confirmed the upcoming visit with Fox News on Wednesday.
“I just got off the phone with my counterparts from the United Kingdom, from France, from Germany and said, ‘Look, we welcome Europe stepping in and offering security guarantees. We welcome Europe. We’ve been asking for years for Europe to step up and contribute more to not only their own defense but Ukraine’s defense,’” Waltz said on “America Reports.”
The meetings come as Trump and European leaders seek to address the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine, with American and Russian officials meeting in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss options to end the conflict.
Trump blasted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a post on his Truth Social account on Wednesday that also criticized Europe’s approach to the war.
“Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn’t be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and ‘TRUMP,’ will never be able to settle,” he began.
“The United States has spent $200 Billion Dollars more than Europe, and Europe’s money is guaranteed, while the United States will get nothing back. Why didn’t Sleepy Joe Biden demand Equalization, in that this War is far more important to Europe than it is to us — We have a big, beautiful Ocean as separation,” Trump continued.
Europe is also adjusting to other changes under the Trump administration, such as pulling out of the Paris climate agreement and calling for NATO to increase defense spending.
“I’m also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago,” Trump said in a virtual speech last month to European leaders in Davos, Switzerland.
A group of European leaders also met this week with Macron in Paris to discuss changes following Trump’s return to office.
In contrast, the U.K.’s Starmer has vowed to continue his support of Ukraine, noting that his country could send troops if necessary to enforce a peace agreement.