The leaders will host Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the beginning of their talks in Brussels and can reaffirm their “unwavering dedication” to supporting Ukraine “for so long as it takes”, in accordance with draft conclusions.
Trump has repeatedly referred to as for a swift finish to the almost three-year-old conflict. On Monday he mentioned Zelenskiy needs to be prepared to succeed in a peace take care of Russian President Vladimir Putin, although he didn’t say whether or not this meant Kyiv ceding territory to Moscow as a part of a negotiated settlement.
Russian forces at the moment occupy almost a fifth of Ukrainian territory and are making regular advances within the east of the nation.
“Russia should not prevail,” the EU draft conclusions say, including that no initiative should be taken on Ukraine with out Kyiv’s involvement.
One EU diplomat described the draft textual content as sending “a transparent sign to the U.S.”. The leaders can even focus on wider EU-U.S. relations over lunch amid issues of a attainable transatlantic commerce conflict. Trump has mentioned the EU will “pay an enormous value” with tariffs for not shopping for sufficient U.S. exports. He has already pledged hefty tariffs on three of america’ largest buying and selling companions – Canada, Mexico and China. The EU is aware of it won’t be spared.
UNITY
Some EU diplomats mentioned the important thing for the bloc can be unity and avoidance of Washington conducting discussions or offers with single EU members – a replica of its largely profitable unified technique for coping with Britain throughout Brexit negotiations.
“The U.S. may attempt particular person negotiations however to this point I’ve not seen international locations falling for that,” one EU diplomat mentioned.
The EU will search to level out that it’s the United States’ second-biggest buying and selling associate and a detailed ally with shared values. Nonetheless, conscious that Trump is preoccupied by the U.S. items commerce deficit, EU officers have mooted probably providing to purchase extra U.S. LNG or arms.
The lunchtime “EU on the earth” debate can also be prone to embrace China and whether or not the bloc will likely be pressured to take sides in a U.S.-China commerce battle in addition to Britain, which has mentioned it needs to reset ties with the European Union and is seen by the bloc as an important safety ally.
