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Bryan R. Smith / AFP / Getty Images
President-elect Donald Trump threw into question mainstays of the US' policy toward Europe, criticizing NATO, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and the European Union in an interview published Sunday.
Trump also praised Brexit and predicted more countries would follow the UK in leaving the EU. The wide-ranging interview was published jointly by the UK's Sunday Times and Germany's Bild.
Trump accused Germany of dominating the EU and described the decision to admit more than 1 million migrants and refugees as “a catastrophic mistake.” European anger over the migration crisis would prompt more countries to leave the EU, he said.
The UK has accepted far fewer refugees than many of its EU neighbors, and even before Brexit, the UK government was able to opt out of a plan to resettle refugees within Europe.
“I think it’s very tough,” Trump said, as reported by the Sunday Times. “People, countries want their own identity and the UK wanted its own identity.”
Trump also reiterated his view that NATO is “obsolete.” The military alliance of 28 countries, created after World War II, has been credited with maintaining international stability — particularly during the Cold War.
Russia is not a member of NATO, and its military has been at odds with alliance members over conflict in Ukraine. Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014 sparked sanctions from the US and its allies.
In the interview, Trump suggested he would consider lifting sanctions against Russia.
“Let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia,” Trump said in the interview. “For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that’s part of it.”
Trump added he was just as likely to trust Russian President Vladimir Putin as Merkel and would deal with both as he entered office. But, he said, we'll “see how long that lasts.”
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