EU, Donald Trump have different views on Russia, climate change: Donald Tusk

Brussels: The European Union and US President Donald Trump seem to have differing positions on dealing with Russia, climate change and global trade, European Council President Donald Tusk said after talks with Trump on Thursday. [caption id=“attachment_3480733” align=“alignleft” width=“374”] US President Donald Trump and European Council President Donald Tusk. AP[/caption] Tusk said in a televised statement that the two leaders agreed on countering militant violence and on relations with Ukraine: “We discussed foreign policy, security, climate and trade relations,” Tusk said in Brussels after he and EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker met Trump for an hour. “My feeling is that we agreed on many areas, first and foremost on counter-terrorism.” “But some issues remain open like climate and trade and I am not 100 percent sure that we can say today – ‘we’ means Mr President and myself – that we have a common position, common opinion, about Russia, although when it comes to the conflict in Ukraine it seems that we were on the same lines.” Talks toward a planned EU-US free trade agreement have been put on hold since Trump’s election victory on a more protectionist platform last November. Meanwhile, the EU and the US agreed to start work on a plan to increase trade cooperation, a European Commission spokeswoman said. “As far as the Commission is concerned, President Juncker insisted on intensifying trade cooperation which is a win-win situation for both sides,” she said.