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Trump and Macron Clash About Turkey, Kurds, and ISIS at NATO Summit in London

December 3, 2019

President Donald Trump meets with the Franch President Emmanuel Macron, ahead of the NATO summit in Watford, in London, December 3, 2019

 

Nato summit: Trump and Macron clash in London

BBC, December 3, 2019

Macron on Nato: "We don't have the same definition of terrorism"

US President Donald Trump and French leader Emmanuel Macron have set out opposing views ahead of a Nato summit.

In an occasionally tense press conference, the two politicians sparred over Nato's role, Turkey, and Islamic State group (IS) fighters.

Mr Trump had described Mr. Macron's comments about Nato as "nasty", but Mr. Macron said he stood by his words.

World leaders are in London to mark the Western military alliance's 70th anniversary.

The summit has already been marked by strained relations between Turkey and other member states.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he will oppose Nato's plan for the defence of the Baltic region if it does not back Turkey over its fight against Kurdish groups it considers terrorists.

On Tuesday night, Mr Macron and Mr Erdogan met in Downing Street in a four-way meeting that also included German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the host, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Why is there a row over Nato?

Ties between Mr Trump and Mr Macron were already strained amid a trade dispute, and after the French president described Nato as "brain dead" last month because, he said, the US commitment to the alliance was fading.

Mr Trump hit back on Tuesday by saying the French leader had been "very disrespectful", adding that France had "a very high unemployment rate" and "nobody needs Nato more than France".

At a joint press conference with Mr Macron later, Mr Trump was less combative, stressing that the two countries had "done a lot of good things together". Mr Macron, meanwhile, said he stood by his comments.

The two sides then clashed over foreign IS fighters who were captured in Syria.

Mr Trump jokingly offered them to France, saying: "Would you like some nice [IS] fighters? You can take everyone you want."

Sounding stern, Mr Macron said "Let's be serious" and that IS fighters from Europe were "a tiny minority", and that the "number one priority" was to get rid of the terrorist group.

Mr Trump then retorted: "This is why he is a great politician because that was one of the greater non-answers I have ever heard, and that's OK".

Mr Trump also criticised Nato countries who were paying less than the Nato guidelines of at least 2% of GDP towards the alliance.

He said he did not want countries to be "delinquent" and pay less than their share, adding: "Maybe I'll deal with them from a trade standpoint."

Mr Macron said France - which currently spends 1.84% of its GDP on defence - would reach the minimum, and acknowledged that the US had "overinvested" in Nato for several decades.

However, he added that there were other pressing issues to discuss.

"When I look at Turkey, they now are fighting against those who fought with us shoulder to shoulder against [IS]... if we just have discussions about what we pay and we don't have clear discussions about such a situation, we are not serious."

The two leaders also discussed Turkey's decision to buy a Russian S-400 missile system.

Mr Trump said they were "looking at" whether to impose sanctions, while Mr Macron asked: "How is it possible to be a member of the alliance... and buy things from Russia?"

Why is Turkey an issue?

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have been key allies of the US-led coalition against IS in Syria. However, Turkey views a section of the group - the YPG - as terrorists.

Ahead of his departure for London, Mr Erdogan said Turkey would not approve a plan to defend Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia in the event of a Russian attack unless Nato recognised the Kurdish YPG militia as terrorists.

"If our friends at Nato don't recognise as terrorist organisations those we consider terrorist organisations... we will stand against any step that will be taken there," he said about the plan.

However, Mr Macron told reporters: "We don't have the same definition of terrorism around the [Nato] table".

In October, Turkey launched an operation in Kurdish-controlled areas of northern Syria to create a "security zone" along its border.

That military action deepened fractures between Turkey and other Nato members, and took place after President Trump had controversially pulled US forces out of the region.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50651695

Broken bromance: Trump and Macron clash in lengthy bickerfest at NATO summit

Roll Call, John T. Bennett, December 3, 2019

President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron clashed Tuesday in a remarkable question-and-answer session with reporters that was broadcast around the globe. From U.S.-French trade to Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria and the Islamic State’s posture there to a clear disagreement about the role of NATO, the two leaders who once wooed one another jousted and interrupted one another for nearly 45 minutes during an alliance meeting in London.

Macron is a 41-year-old French liberal. Trump is a 73-year-old American conservative. Yet, the French leader was eager to curry favor with the then-new American commander in chief — he made Trump the guest of honor at his country’s 2017 Bastille Day celebration. Trump was quick to reciprocate, hosting his French counterpart a year later during a chummy visit that included a tree-planting on the White House’s South Lawn and his first state dinner.

Since, the duo has drifted.

Trump kicked off the two-day alliance leaders’ meeting in the British capital by bashing Macron for saying NATO is suffering from a “brain drain.” Trump lashed out during a separate, and somehow longer, question-and-answer session with reporters. He called the remark “dangerous” and “insulting” to the alliance’s other members. The two countries also exchanged trade threats, and the U.S. president delivered it personally while sitting just feet from Macron.

The list of issues on which they disagreed during their remarkable public meeting is long, but here are three takeaways:

Strained alliance Trump, especially as a presidential candidate in 2016, was perhaps the world’s top NATO critic. Macron was known as a believer in such international institutions. Times have changed.

“NATO has come a long way in three years. It’s something we’re very proud of,” Trump said, a striking statement from a president who has sharply criticized his alliance counterparts for more than three years. “It serves a great function.”

Then the shot-taking began.

“I don’t believe the president is very involved,” he said of Macron, who tilted his head and squinted, “and likes the idea of NATO.”

The American president said the alliance’s primary functions and missions are shifting, still retaining a fundamental objective of countering Russia while focusing more on violent Islamic extremist groups and China’s rise. Macron just isn’t there yet.

Trump clearly suggested France should devote more of hits national budget to its defense — and, by extension, the mutual defense of all alliance members. Macron pushed back, sometimes extending his left arm to interrupt or signal the older American leader it was his turn to speak — and, often, offer a different view.

“It’s not just about money,” he said. “I do believe we do pay what we have to pay.”

“We have to be clear on the fundamentals of what NATO should be,” Macron said, suggesting the alliance should retain its initial goal: Maintaining “peace in Europe.”

The session’s most awkward moment came when Trump publicly asked the French president if he would take in ISIS detainees from his country who now are in U.S. custody. Macron responded with lengthy remarks about fighting the group and the situation in Syria.

“That’s why he’s a great politician,” Trump said mockingly. “That was one of the great non-answers I’ve ever heard.” It was time for Macron’s arm again, as he interrupted the American to say his country “actually has taken back some fighters.”

Turkey leftovers Democratic lawmakers back home — joined by many Republicans — have criticized Trump for being too soft on Turkish President Recep Erdogan, saying the U.S. president essentially approved the Turkish leader’s military operation against Kurds, a longtime U.S. ally, in northern Syria. Add Macron to that list, as he let his frustrations show in a very public setting.

“We need clarification from the Turkish side,” he said, on how it can be a member of an alliance established to guard against Russian aggression while buying a Russian-made air defense system. He also wants more clarity from Turkey on its objectives in northern Syria and in its conflict with the Kurds.

Trump, however, is just fine with Erdogan’s actions.

“We have a very good relationship with President Erdogan,” he said, adding he told the sometimes-hardline Turkish leader, “‘You can control your own border now, I don’t care who you do it with.’ … I can’t speak for the president of France.”

No need. Macron was doing just fine on his own.

After Trump blamed Turkey’s purchase of the Russian defense system on the Obama administration’s years-long blocking of Ankara’s proposed purchase of the U.S.-made Patriot air defense platform, an animated Macron rejected his counterpart’s claims, saying there also was an “European option.”

“They decided not to be compliant with NATO,” he said of Turkish officials, gesturing wildly as he spoke.

The duo met one day after a report surfaced that Trump is considering slapping 100% tariffs on some French imports like wine, cheese and handbags in retaliation to what his administration says is Paris’s unfair treatment of U.S. technology firms

During his first appearance before reporters, Trump appeared to confirm the report. But later, he left himself some wiggle room.

“We have a minor dispute,” he said alongside Macron. “I think we will probably be able to work it out.”

But minutes later, Trump again issued a threat: “We’ll work out some mutually beneficial tax. … I don’t know if it’ll come to that, but it might.”

The U.S. president sent stock markets sliding with an earlier assessment that a “phase one” trade deal with China he announced in October might not be finalized before the end of the year after all.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/broken-bromance-trump-and-macron-clash-in-lengthy-bickerfest-at-nato-summit/ar-BBXHJ3E?ocid=spartanntp  

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