Europeans wonder if Trump will act on Pence’s reassurances
MUNICH — U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence was the latest in a trio of high-ranking Trump emissaries to tell European allies in person that the United States will steadfastly support NATO and demand that Russia honour its commitments to end fighting in Ukraine.
Some European leaders, however, remain skeptical of whether Pence and the U.S. secretaries of state and defence actually speak for President Donald Trump. And they worry those declarations might easily be swept away at the whim of the mercurial American president.
“We are waiting for actions,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda. “We only know what the media has reported and the statements that we’ve got. Now we are waiting for actions of the new government of Donald Trump.”
European countries along Russia’s border have been rattled by the prospect of deeper U.S.-Russia ties after Trump bucked the opinions of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other world leaders by suggesting that sanctions imposed on Russia over its intervention in Ukraine could be eased in exchange for a nuclear arms deal.