Trump, Putin weakening European Union, says official

Brussels [Belgium], May 23 (ANI): United States President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin are weakening the European Union as they think it will be "better for their own country," a top European official said on Wednesday.
"Countries like Russia, China but also the United States have challenged us harder than before," The Hill quoted Jyrki Katainen, vice president of the European Commission, as saying.
"We are [for the] first time in the history in a situation where the president of the United States and [the] president of Russia seem to share the same view on Europe: the weaker, the better, because they think that it's better for their own country, which is obviously not right," Katainen, former prime minister of Finland, said.
Europe's relations with the US is in the tenous phase since Trump has been elected as America's president.
Trump has been openly critical to European Union's policies.
Last month, US President slammed EU, saying the commission is a "brutal" trading partner.
Washington threatened to slap tariffs on the EU imports worth USD 11 billion, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, in the wake of the EU allegedly giving subsidies to Airbus.
The proposed tariffs are subject to public consultations and arbitration at the World Trade Organisation.
The United States had already imposed tariffs on European steel and aluminium export, with Trump considering the imposition of tariffs up to 25 per cent on European vehicle imports.
The Europe relationship with Putin has been more "fraught".
Tensions have been especially high since 2014 when Moscow annexed Crimea and the EU responded by imposing sanctions. (ANI)