British PM Theresa May says Trump 'recognises importance of NATO'

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday that she believed US President Donald Trump "recognises the importance and significance of NATO", despite him days earlier dubbing the military alliance obsolete.

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, May said: "I'm also confident the USA will recognise the importance of the cooperation we have in Europe to ensure our collective defence and collective security."

The British premier is expected to visit Trump in the spring, according to Downing Street, although the FT reported that she could go to Washington as early as next month.

Meanwhile, May congratulated Trump after he took office on Friday.

"From our conversations to date, I know we are both committed to advancing the special relationship between our two countries and working together for the prosperity and security of people on both sides of the Atlantic," she said.

"I look forward to discussing these issues and more when we meet in Washington."

Earlier this week, before he was sworn in as president, Trump told two European newspapers he had long warned that NATO had "problems".

"Number one, it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago," he said, referring to its Cold War, post-World War II origins.

"Number two, the countries aren't paying what they're supposed to pay."

Source:-TOI

White House warns Trump over reversing detente policy with Cuba

WASHINGTON: As President-elect Donald Trump threatened to "terminate" the detente policy with Cuba, the White House on Tuesday warned that reversing historic rapprochement would have "significant" diplomatic, economic and cultural costs.

The policy is considered as one of the foreign policy legacies of outgoing President Barack Obama.

Trump on Monday threatened in a tweet to put an end to the detente policy.

"If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the US as a whole, I will terminate deal," Trump said in a tweet.

Trump's tweet landed just as Cuba began its week-long farewell to its former leader Fidel Castro.

The White House, however, was quick to warn that there are costs involved for cancelling such an agreement with Cuba, under which the two countries not only reestablished their diplomatic relationship after decades, but also resumed flights and lifted several sanctions.


Source:-timesofindia