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BERLIN (AP) — European leaders are reacting with surprise and defiance to the latest comments by Donald Trump about NATO.
The president-elect said in an interview that he believed the alliance is "obsolete." He also said he thinks more member states will leave the European Union.
Trump made similar comments during the campaign -- but his choice for defense secretary, retired Marine Gen. James Mattis, said at his confirmation hearings last week that he supports NATO.
France's foreign minister says the best response is for Europeans to unite. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Europeans "have our fate in our own hands." She says she'll wait until Trump takes office, and then "work with him on all levels."
Trump's views came in an interview with the German daily Bild and with The Times of London.
He indicated he was indifferent to whether the EU stays together or not. That's a sharp break from the Obama administration, which encouraged British people to vote to remain in the EU in the June referendum.
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