PARIS: Leaders from around the world reacted to Donald Trump’s return Monday to the White House, offering congratulations and urging good relations with the mercurial leader.
Here are some of the first reactions after Trump took the oath of office for a second term:
“President Trump is always decisive, and the peace through strength policy he announced provides an opportunity to strengthen American leadership and achieve a long-term and just peace, which is the top priority,” said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
NATO chief Mark Rutte said Trump’s return “will turbo-charge defense spending and production” at the alliance.
“I believe that working together again we will raise the US-Israel alliance to even greater heights,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding “the “best days of our alliance are yet to come.”
“I am certain that the friendship between our nations and the values that unite us will continue to strengthen the collaboration between Italy and the USA, together facing global challenges and building a future of prosperity and security for our peoples,” Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni wrote on social media.
She also cited a role for Italy in “consolidating the dialogue between the United States and Europe.”
Panama reacted sharply to Trump’s pledge that the United States would be “taking back” the Panama Canal, saying the key interoceanic waterway would remain under its control.
“The canal is and will remain Panama’s,” President Jose Raul Mulino said in a statement published on social media.
“The EU looks forward to working closely with you to tackle global challenges,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. “Together, our societies can achieve greater prosperity and strengthen their common security.”
“I look forward to working closely together once again, to benefit both our countries, and to shape a better future for the world,” said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, congratulating his “dear friend” Trump.
“We are strongest when we work together, and I look forward to working with President Trump,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, adding — after Trump threatened to impose 25-percent tariffs on Canadian imports — that “Canada and the United States have the world’s most successful economic partnership.”
“The US is our closest ally and the aim of our policy is always a good transatlantic relationship,” said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
‘Dear friend’: Nations react to Trump inauguration
https://arab.news/bxjts
‘Dear friend’: Nations react to Trump inauguration
- Panama reacted sharply to Trump’s pledge that the US would be “taking back” the Panama Canal, saying the key interoceanic waterway would remain under its control
Hegseth tells congressional leaders he is weighing release of boat strike video
- The situation has awakened the Republican-controlled Congress to its oversight role
- The US military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela on Tuesday
WASHINGTON: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is facing intensifying demands from Congress to release the full video of an attack on an alleged drug boat that killed two survivors in what Democrats and legal experts said may have been a war crime or murder.
Hegseth provided a classified briefing for congressional leaders Tuesday alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at the Capitol. He said he’s still weighing whether to release the video.
The situation has awakened the Republican-controlled Congress to its oversight role after months of frustration about the trickle of information from the Pentagon.
Meanwhile, the US military flew a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela on Tuesday as the Trump administration raises pressure on President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump’s speech on combating inflation turns to grievances about immigrants: On the road in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, President Donald Trump tried to emphasize his focus on combating inflation, yet the issue that has damaged his popularity couldn’t quite command his full attention.
Yet he meandered during his remarks, asking why the US couldn’t take in more immigrants from Scandinavia and using an expletive to describe countries such as Haiti and Somalia.
