The prospect of former President Donald Trump’s re-election in 2024 would be a “threat” to Europe, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said on Thursday.
In an interview on French television, Lagarde criticized the Republican presidential frontrunner and said that his return to the White House would harm the relationship between the United States and the European Union.
“If we draw lessons from history, by which I mean to say the manner in which he (Trump) carried out the first four years of his mandate, it is clearly a threat,” Lagarde told France 2 TV.
“You just have to look at the trade tariffs, you just have to look at his commitment regarding NATO, you just have to look at his attitude regarding the battle against climate change,” she added.
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In additional remarks, Lagarde expressed confidence that even if Trump were to win reelection this year, Congress would not permit him to end financial and military aid to Ukraine.
“You mustn’t forget that even in a presidential system like the American one, the Congress has considerable strength,” she said, according to The Telegraph.
Asked if a second Trump term would leave Europe isolated in support of Ukraine, Lagarde replied, “In the US Congress, there are a number of elected members who are deeply hostile to Russia’s horrific war against Ukraine and who will continue to finance and support Ukraine.”
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Trump’s first term in office from 2017 to 2020 was characterized by a confrontational, and even at times adversarial, attitude towards U.S. allies in Europe. In asserting an “America First” agenda, Trump favored higher tariffs on foreign goods and accused NATO partners of failing to fulfill their defense spending obligations under the alliance.
Trump also broke with European leaders on climate change, withdrawing the United States from the Paris climate agreement, a voluntary pact which would have committed partnered nations to set emissions reduction targets. Trump argued the energy restrictions required to meet those targets would have cost American jobs and would have handicapped America’s ability to compete economically with Russia and China.
On Ukraine, Trump blamed President Biden’s “weak” foreign policy for the Russian invasion at a Fox News town hall earlier this week.
Trump argued that “getting along with people with hundreds of nuclear weapons is not a bad thing,” before suggesting that foreign leaders view the current Commander in Chief as “weak.”
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“You know, they want to make it like a bad thing. It’s a very good thing. But peace through strength. They didn’t want to mess around. It would have never happened in Ukraine. Russia would have never gone in, would have never happened. The recent attack on Israel would have never happened,” Trump said.
“They see a weak president in our country,” Trump said of Biden, “and they did something that was unthinkable. So we’re going to have peace through strength. We’re not going to have to fight.”
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Trump appears to be sailing toward the Republican nomination for president in 2024, holding a commanding polling lead against his rivals ahead of the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
Fox News’ Aubrie Spady and Reuters contributed to this report.
