Trump lists Russia, EU, China as ‘foes’ ahead of Putin summit

(FILES): This file photo taken on January 23, 2018 shows US President Donald Trump speaking after signing Section 201 actions to impose tariffs from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC. US President Donald Trump ordered the firing of Russia investigation special counsel Robert Mueller last year but later reversed course, The New York Times reported January 25, 2018. Mueller is leading the probe into allegations of collusion between the US president's campaign team and Russia in the 2016 election, which Trump has repeatedly criticized and views as an attack on the legitimacy of his presidency. / AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON

AFP PHOTO / JIM WATSON

US President Donald Trump named Russia, the EU and China as “foes,” in an interview aired Sunday on the eve of his summit with Vladimir Putin.

“Well I think we have a lot of foes. I think the European Union is a foe, what they do to us in trade,” Trump said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“Now, you wouldn’t think of the European Union but they’re a foe. Russia is a foe in certain respects. China is a foe economically, certainly they are a foe. But that doesn’t mean they are bad. It doesn’t mean anything. It means that they are competitive,” he said in the interview with CBS Evening News’s Jeff Glor, which was conducted on Saturday.

Trump repeated his previous assertion that the European Union has “really taken advantage of us on trade.”

He also again complained that “it’s a very bad thing for Germany” that the country depends on Russian gas, for which it is paying “billions” to Moscow.

The US has imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum against the EU and other allies, sparking retaliation.

A trade war is also underway with China after the US implemented tariffs for what it calls unfair trade practices by Beijing.

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