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Luxembourg leader urges Trump to value EU relations more

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Rome, Friday, March 24, 2017 ahead of a European Union summit commemorating the 60th Anniverary of the Treaty of Rome, the founding treaty of the EU. Bettel highlighted the need that EU nations can no longer be taken “hostage” by some members who take an obstructionist course. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Rome, Friday, March 24, 2017 ahead of a European Union summit commemorating the 60th Anniverary of the Treaty of Rome, the founding treaty of the EU. Bettel highlighted the need that EU nations can no longer be taken “hostage” by some members who take an obstructionist course. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini) Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel speaks during an interview with the Associated Press, in Rome, Friday, March 24, 2017 ahead of a European Union summit commemorating the 60th Anniverary of the Treaty of Rome, the founding treaty of the EU. Bettel highlighted the need that EU nations can no longer be taken “hostage” by some members who take an obstructionist course. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

By Associated Press 2 min read

ROME (AP) – The leader of European Union founding nation Luxembourg warned U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday that if he turns a cold shoulder on the EU it will be “a lose-lose situation” for both sides of the Atlantic.

Trump over the past months has angered EU leaders with his public support for the British Brexit decision to leave the EU, for showing no interest in pushing negotiations for the trans-Atlantic trade agreement with the bloc and for favoring bilateral relations.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said “Mr. Trump will learn very fast that the EU is not a bunch of 27 grocery shops, where you knock at the door and start doing business.”

“Instead, it is something grand, if we stick together and continue to act together,” Bettel said.

Bettel was in Rome with the other EU leaders – minus British Prime Minister Theresa May – to mark Saturday’s 60th anniversary of the bloc, which is in crisis because of Britain’s impending departure.