UNITED NATIONS, New York – Foreign ministers from European countries with close ties to the United States reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris' claim and world leaders are “laughing” at former President Trump, dismissing the claim.
During the September presidential debate, Harris said, “World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I've spoken to military leaders, some of whom worked with you, and they say he's a disgrace.”
When asked about this quote, foreign ministers attending the United Nations High Level Week emphasized that they have no opinion one way or the other about the US election and will work with whoever wins.
“We are friends of the United States,” said Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, noting that Italy and the United States are “two sides of the same coin.” “If Trump is going to be the new president of the United States, we will work with him as we worked with him when he was president of the United States.”
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“We worked well with Biden, with Bush, with Reagan, with Clinton, with Obama,” Tajani added. “For us, transatlantic relations are the key strategy of our foreign policy, Europe and America.”
The foreign ministers of Lithuania and the Czech Republic stressed that they will not interfere in the elections by declaring a preference, but will “let American citizens decide.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, center, watches as President Trump and Poland's President Andrzej Duda speak during a working lunch at the NATO leaders summit in Watford, Britain, on 4 December 2019. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
“My role is not to comment on such a political statement,” said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky.
However, Lipavsky praised Trump's “strong” message on defense spending, which he hoped Europe would continue to adopt in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
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“The point is that Donald Trump had, at the time, a strong message for Europe, and that message resonated quite a bit and is resonating more now because he said spend more on defense,” Lipavsky said.
“My government is spending more on our defense,” he added. “We want to reach that 2% of GDP, we will reach it this year and we will continue next year. So, (if) Donald Trump were a president with this message: 'Please spend 2%,' we would be OK.”
President Trump reacts with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as they attend a working lunch during the NATO leaders' summit in Watford, Britain, December 4, 2019. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis highlighted the “long history” between the two countries and stated that the relationship is “more than political.”
Instead, he reiterated the message that whoever wins the election will need to focus on the same defense spending message that Trump pushed during his first administration.
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Before the Trump administration, only a few NATO members had maintained their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense, but that figure increased dramatically due to Trump's insistence and hardline stance on the issue.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reported in June that 23 of 32 member states had met the minimum spending requirement, helping to improve the bloc's ability to support Ukraine and potentially deter further Russian aggression. beyond its current ambitions.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with former President Trump during his visit to Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in July. (@PM_ViktorOrban)
However, no European nation has touted the success of Trump's first term and expressed hopes for a strong second term as Hungary has. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó revealed that his government would have “enormous expectations” for a new Trump administration.
“We have high expectations because we believe that many of the major crises that concern us greatly can be resolved by a President Trump administration,” Szijjártó said, noting that he speaks as NATO's longest-serving foreign minister, with 10 years under his belt.
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“I didn't really see anyone laughing at Trump,” Szijjártó said. “What I have seen is that many are afraid. I have seen many be afraid that a president of the United States is honest, not a hostage to the liberal mainstream, that he represents a patriotic position and that he speaks clearly about America first” .
Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have done little to hide their rosy friendship, with Trump invoking the Hungarian leader as a “strongman of Europe” who speaks well of the former president.
Orbán demonstrated that this is a mutual dynamic when he decided to leave the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this year, to meet with Trump in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, to discuss foreign relations.
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“Under President Trump, everything was under control,” Szijjártó said. “Since President Trump left office, the entire global security situation is deteriorating. So, I mean, these are experiences.”
“If we draw on our experience, we say yes, from a perspective of US-Hungary relations, I think that President Trump would bring another impetus, freshness and dynamism to this relationship. And I think that if President Trump is elected, I think the “The world has a good chance of becoming a more peaceful place compared to the current situation.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
