US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets his EU and NATO counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday to shore up ties, with allies insisting he still plays a \u201ckey role\u201d despite doubts over his future.<\/p>\n
Tillerson will hold talks over lunch with European Union foreign ministers and the bloc\u2019s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, before a two-day NATO meeting set to focus on North Korea\u2019s missile programme and concerns over perceived hostility from Russia.<\/p>\n
But his visit comes against a difficult backdrop–a rift with President Donald Trump has led to reports he could be replaced within weeks, calling into question his authority to speak for Washington.<\/p>\n
And there are major differences between Washington and Europe on a number of key policy areas, notably the Iran nuclear deal which Trump has vehemently condemned but which Brussels is desperate to preserve.<\/p>\n
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday it was vital international powers worked together to tackle the North Korean crisis, after Pyongyang tested a long-range missile it said could hit anywhere in the continental United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast week\u2019s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile showed that all allied nations could be within range,\u201d Stoltenberg said on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe whole world needs to apply maximum pressure on North Korea in order to achieve a peacefully negotiated solution.\u201d He said the 29-member alliance had been \u201cclear and consistent\u201d in its condemnation of Pyongyang\u2019s weapons programme, which has seen the reclusive state carry out a series of ballistic missile and nuclear tests in defiance of international sanctions.<\/p>\n
The EU has been ramping up economic sanctions on the North in a bid to force it to the negotiating table–but with no success so far.<\/p>\n
But if the US and EU can present a unified front on North Korea, the deal with Iran to end the Islamic republic\u2019s nuclear programme in return for the lifting of sanctions is more problematic.<\/p>\n
Trump has slammed the historic 2015 accord, agreed after years of painstaking talks between Iran and the United States, Britain, France, China, Germany and Russia, as a bad deal and threatened to pull America out.<\/p>\n
European powers are keen to maintain the deal and Mogherini last month travelled to Washington to lobby US lawmakers not to withdraw from the agreement.<\/p>\n
\u201cPreserving the nuclear deal with Iran and its full implementation is a key security priority for Europe,\u201d Mogherini said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Tillerson\u2019s Brussels visit comes at the start of a European tour taking in Paris and Vienna for the 57-member Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.<\/p>\n
Anonymous White House leaks have suggested Tillerson could be out of a job within weeks and even while denying this on Friday, President Donald Trump reminded him: \u201cI call the final shots.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Monday, Stoltenberg gave his backing to Tillerson\u2019s efforts in tackling the North Korean crisis–an issue where Trump has publicly criticised his top diplomat, saying he was \u201cwasting his time\u201d pursuing contacts with Pyongyang.<\/p>\n
\u201cSecretary Tillerson has played a key role, both in sending the message of deterrence, the unity and the resolve of the whole alliance, but also when it comes to the need for continuing to work for a peaceful solution,\u201d Stoltenberg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets his EU and NATO counterparts in Brussels on Tuesday to shore up ties, with allies insisting he still plays a \u201ckey role\u201d despite doubts over his future. Tillerson will hold talks over lunch with European Union foreign ministers and the bloc\u2019s diplomatic chief Federica Mogherini, before a two-day […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11994,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11995,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11993\/revisions\/11995"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}