Underspending Bits Allies News Today

Putin. their after will meet and build some muscle memory for negotiation. if we get started now, then i think our pros can get it done. edrequire controversial the president is thinking about a grand bargain. everyone around the world wants to do something to stop the civil war, stop this crisis in syria. we have isis there, we cant forget the u.s. is having success during the trump administration. but there is a concern among the presidents critics and allies in congress that he might give up ...

It means they are competitors. ed: joining me live is a foreign policy fellow at the brookings institution joining us from washington. thanks for joining us. >> a pleasure. ed: lets dispense with this question about nato. the presidents critics have been saying that some of his verbal barbs that germans and others was an attempt to split nato because thats something vladimir putin wants, to see a weak nato. the president tweeted no, we have never been stronger. im not trying to split the allianc...

Hes blowing up nato. then you just listed a series of things that were successes coming out of the nato summit. we are hearing critics saying he shouldnt sit down with putin. putin has already won because he wants to be on a world stage with a higher profile. now with the president setting expectations pretty low. could we see positive things come out of this summit despite the criticism? >> in many ways the presidents pressing on nato and the 2% mark which all nato members agreed to a long time...

Spending. most european allies are not hitting the 2% park but they plan top hit it by 2024. but nato accomplished a lot of things. they recommitted to article 5. they committed to opening two new structures that will have an eye toward russia and try to deter russian aggression. on the e.u., i think the president sees the e.u. in transactional terms. he sees them as a trade partner and he doesnt think the united states is getting a great deal from the trade relationship. when he says they are a...

Netanyahu. and others in the white house talking about the possibility of from this summit you can begin the conversation getting help from putin. get iran out of syria and get iran pushed further back from israel. protect our allies and bring some resolution to the crisis in syria. >> you got into much of the nuance there. its an extremely complicated battlefield. we have rebel groups we backed in the past and nato groups that will have to be extracted. but the president and vladimir putin need...

Come out. ed: hanging over todays meeting is the shah dove election meddling following special counsel muellers indictment of 12eu7b tell jones officers last -- indictment of 12 intelligence officers last week. the presidents trip to helsinki follows a contentious summit in brussels with our nato allies. in a television interview the president labeled the european union a foe with respect to trade. joining us now from here in helsinki, kevin corke. good day to you, kevin. you heard lawmakers lik...

Followed by a joint press conference where you can expect a lot of questions from the press. ed: next hour we expect the president and the first lady to emerge having breakfast. this caps a week in europe that put some strain on the u.s. and its european allies. many are questioning the u.s. support for the alliance. in terms of trade, for example, hes also upset with the e.u. but he believes that he and nato allies have come together. take a listen. president trump: i think we have a lot of foe...

Wind this thing up and i dont want to see any iranians near the syrian border. then secretary pompeo and ambassador john bolton will come in and hammer out the terms. ed: an important goal to try to reduce iranian influence around the world. but it could come at a heavy price. the key part of that grand bargain mentioned is the idea maybe there will be some u.s. recognition of russias annexation of crimea. that was an illegal move by vladimir putin. our allies do not want to see that codified. >...