US President Donald Trump has doubled down on his attacks on Europe, claiming the continent is “weak” and “in decline” due to immigration.
President Trump told the publication Politico on Tuesday that European countries should deport people who have entered the country “illegally.”
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“Europe wants to be politically correct, but that’s weakening Europe,” Trump said.
The U.S. president has long opposed immigration to Western countries, often using harsh rhetoric specifically targeting immigrants from Africa and Muslim-majority countries.
“Europe is a different place. If this continues, in my opinion, many of these countries will no longer be viable countries,” Trump said. “Their immigration policy is a disaster.”
Trump’s comments came less than a week after his administration released a national security strategy that condemned Europe and warned of the “annihilation of civilization” on the continent.
The document calls for “nurturing resistance to Europe’s current trajectory among European countries”.
Asked about possible interference in Europe’s internal affairs, President Trump said he was focused on American governance. However, he did not rule out supporting candidates or parties in European elections, similar to his support for right-wing politicians in Latin America.
Trump also acknowledged that his Hungarian ally, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is seeking a U.S. bailout similar to the $40 billion aid package Washington handed to the government of Argentine President Javier Milei.
But the US president rejected Mr Orbán’s claims that the aid deal had been secured.
It may be difficult for the United States to empower allies beyond Hungary. Many far-right parties in Europe that sympathize with Mr. Trump’s rhetoric are shunned in their own countries.
In Germany, for example, groups across the political spectrum have vowed to keep the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party out of any coalition government.
During his first term in 2017, Trump sparked a diplomatic crisis with Britain after sharing a fake video of a British far-right leader calling Muslim immigrants violent.
Then-British Prime Minister Theresa May called the posts “wrong,” and several politicians condemned the US president.
On Tuesday, President Trump renewed his attacks on his most frequent political target, London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
The US president has questioned Mr Khan’s ideology, suggested the Muslim mayor was elected by immigrants and repeated the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, which alleges a baseless plot to replace white voters with newcomers.
“If you look at London, there’s a mayor named Khan. He’s a terrible mayor. An incompetent mayor, but a horribly bad, disgusting mayor,” Trump said.
The UK has restrictive immigration laws, which President Trump claimed are “allowing people to enter the country without any checks or checks”.
“Look at the mayor of London. He’s a terrible person. He’s a terrible person,” Trump said. “He has a completely different ideology than he should have. And he was elected because so many people came out and they voted for him.”
Trump also attacked Khan in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in September, suggesting the London mayor was introducing Islamic law in the city.
The U.S. president’s comments on Mr. Khan and Europe have been met with a muted response in recent weeks.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer did not condemn or directly criticize Trump, only defending and expressing support for Khan, a Labor ally.
In an interview with Politico, Trump also criticized the canton of Paris, which, like Sweden, is a major destination for American tourists, saying the Nordic country is now “very dangerous.”
Sweden, home to about 10.6 million people, had 92 murders last year, far less than half of the 250 recorded in Memphis, a US city of less than 630,000 people.
