Ahead of Trump-Putin meet, EU chief says US doesn’t have many allies

European Council President Donald Tusk is appealing to US President Donald Trump to remember who his allies are as the US leader prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Speaking as he signs a joint EU-NATO declaration Tuesday with alliance Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Tusk says in a message to Trump that “it is always worth knowing who is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem.”

With Trump routinely criticizing his NATO allies for failing to spend enough on their defense budgets, Tusk recalls that the Europeans are spending more than Russia and as much as China.

Tusk urges the Europeans to increase spending as they have promised, but says: “Dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don’t have all that many.”

Trump meets Putin on July 16.

— AP