While addressing the nation's governors at the White House on Monday, President Trump took a shot at the European
Union and NATO.
NATO, he said, was "going down like a rocket ship" before he came in
and saved the day by convincing other member states to contribute more
money.
But he seemed generally pleased with the direction things are
going. That's not the case for the EU, which Trump claimed is treating
the United States "very badly."
Trump even argued one of the "primary reasons" the EU was formed was so
its member states could pick on the U.S, which is a claim that doesn't
really have much going for it historically. The EU is the final stage of
a progression of a continent-wide economic community that was first
implemented in the aftermath of World War II. Seeking to avoid a third
conflict on such a scale, European leaders at the time sought to create a
cooperative system in which countries could trade with little
hindrance.
Eventually, that morphed into the current EU, which has
expanded beyond just economic unity.
Trump with this statement is talking out of his lower body part. The
supranational organization obviously hasn't always seen eye to eye
with the U.S. on all matters, but it's a reach to say those
disagreements were the reason it was formed in the first place.
EU-Digest
