Russia said Monday it is too early to comment on policy proposals from U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who suggested in a newspaper interview he would back dropping sanctions against Russia in exchange for an agreement to reduce nuclear arms.
“Let’s wait until he assumes office before we give assessment to any initiatives,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Trump made his comment in a joint interview with The Times of London and Germany’s Bild newspaper.
He criticized Russia’s intervention in Syria and repeated his campaign trail criticism of NATO, saying the alliance is “obsolete” and many members are not paying their share. But he also said, “NATO is very important to me.”
In Brussels Monday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Trump’s comments had caused “surprise and anxiety” among NATO member countries.
Tariff threat
German officials also shot back at Trump’s suggestion that the country’s auto makers could face a 35 percent tariff on cars they want to sell in the U.S. but not build there. Trump has made such threats to other companies, seeking to pressure them to move or retain manufacturing facilities in the U.S. in order to create or protect American jobs.
Volkswagens are on display on the lot of a VW dealership in Boulder, Colo., Sept. 24, 2015.
German Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel said the tariff would make the U.S. auto industry weaker and more expensive. And in response to Trump’s criticism that the president-elect sees more German cars in the U.S. than American cars in Germany, Gabriel said the solution is for the U.S. to build better cars.
German immigration policy
Trump also said he had “great respect” for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but faulted her for Germany’s acceptance of migrants who had fled their countries because of war, political instability or economic conditions.
“I think she made one very catastrophic mistake and that was taking all of these illegals, you know, taking all of the people from wherever they come from,” Trump said.
FILE – Migrants queue on a street to enter the compound outside the Berlin Office of Health and Social Affairs (LAGESO) for their registration process in Berlin, Germany, in this Dec. 9, 2015 picture.
He blamed the refugee crisis for Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, calling it “the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
“If they [the EU] hadn’t been forced to take in all of the refugees, so many… I think that you wouldn’t have a Brexit,” he said.
Trump did call Brexit a positive thing, and predicted other countries would leave, saying people want “their own identity.”
He offered to quickly reach a fair trade deal with Britain, which drew praise Monday from British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson.
“I think it’s very good news that the United States of America wants to do a good free trade deal with us and wants to do it very fast, and it’s great to hear that from President-elect Trump,” Johnson said. “Clearly it will have to be a deal that’s very much in the interest of both sides, but I have no doubt that it will be.”
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