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'Europe should not lose its identity', US Ambassador to the EU Andrew Puzder tells Euronews

In an interview with Euronews morning show Europe Today, Washington’s envoy to the EU Andrew Puzder said the United States sees Europe as a natural ally but it must retain its core identity for the relation to work.

READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/12/10/europe-should-not-lose-its-identity-us-ambassador-puzder-tells-euronews

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00:00Ambassador Puster, thank you so much for joining us. What a day to have you with us here on Europe
00:04Today. There's a lot to digest. But first, let's just start perhaps with President Trump's attempts
00:09to end the war in Ukraine. Is President Trump trying to push President Zelensky into signing
00:14a deal before Christmas? You know, I'm not involved in the negotiations on Ukraine and I'm
00:20reluctant to comment. We've got Ambassador Witkoff, we've got Secretary Rubio,
00:25Jared Kushner, people that are involved in anything I might say, you know, since I'm not
00:30involved, might damage those negotiations. We all want to see peace. But the fact that you're based
00:35in Brussels, you do understand how the Europeans work. So why do you think the Russians are getting
00:39such soft treatment? Again, any comments I made in that respect could impact the negotiations.
00:45And it would be, it just, it just, look, we all want peace in Ukraine. We all want the killing to
00:50stop. And I don't want to make a comment that might damage the negotiations that could lead to
00:55that peace. And since I'm not involved, it would be easy for me to make a mistake and say the wrong
00:59thing. Indeed, especially on live TV. You don't want to make that mistake. But perhaps you could
01:03talk to us about how the US administration feel about the frozen Russian assets. Is the US on board
01:09with this? Again, the United States hasn't taken a position on that. That's a, that's a European
01:13event, a European solution. I'm, I, and the European, I'm not sure that all the Europeans
01:20are granted. I know how the Belgians feel. I know how the rest of Europe feels. So that's not
01:24something, again, that's not something we're going to get into the middle of. That's a European
01:28decision. But there are reports that the US administration have been calling bilaterally
01:32EU capitals telling them not to sign up to this deal. Yeah, I've, I've heard those reports. I don't
01:37know anybody who's done that. And I haven't spoken to anybody at the EU who's gotten that kind
01:41of contact. So again, that's not, this is just not, I'm, I'm happy to talk to you about the economy
01:46or any areas you want to talk about or President Trump's comments. But while there's negotiations
01:50going on to end this horrific, this horrific war in, in Ukraine, it just would be irresponsible of
01:57me to comment because I'm just not involved in those negotiations. You're not involved, but please,
02:02I'm sure our listeners would love you to comment on President Trump's plans and the various comments
02:07we've heard across the last couple of days on the national security strategy. Is this
02:11the campaign, do you think, Ambassador, to dismantle the European Union?
02:14Well, you know, it's interesting that the coverage of the national security strategy,
02:19when I read it, I thought, my, this thing's going to be terrible. I went and read it and
02:23it's really not that bad. The section on Europe is titled A Proposal for European Greatness. It's
02:29not called, we don't like Europe, we want Europe to go away. And if you read down a little bit,
02:35it says that Europe is, I think I'm going to get the quote right, Europe is strategically and
02:41culturally vital to the United States. You read a little further, it says our transatlantic trade
02:48relationship, which is the largest trade relationship in the world, is a pillar of the
02:54global economy and of American prosperity. So I don't, there, I don't, I did not read it at all
03:00as an attempt to dissolve the European Union. But does it suggest going back to nation states?
03:04Well, I think the, the thrust of it is that you do have 27 sovereign states. So it's not going back
03:12to sovereign states. You have 27 sovereign states. The question is how much of their sovereignty did
03:17they give up to be part of an economic union? Did they give up the sovereignty to determine who
03:22comes into or out of their countries? Did they give up the sovereignty on cultural issues that might
03:28be different in Eastern Europe than they are in Western Europe? So when it says Europe's weak
03:32and decaying, who's weak? Who is President Trump referring to? Well, if you, if you look at the
03:36European Union overall, you'll see the GDP, the nominal GDP, and it was, was ahead of the United
03:43States, the European Union in 2011. So that's 14 years ago. For me, that doesn't seem so long ago.
03:49That's recent memory. Today, if you include the United Kingdom, it's about 20% below that the IMF is
03:56projecting for this year. If you take the United Kingdom out, it's almost a third below that this
04:00is a huge drop. And even more impressively, I think for citizens in Europe, for the people of
04:06Europe, GDP per capita, in other words, economic growth in a country per person, GDP per capita in
04:12Germany, the industrial giant of Europe is now below that of the state of West Virginia in the
04:20United, the 49th worst state. I mean, Europeans know that as well. I mean, they don't really need this
04:23document to state it, but just this idea of what is Europe. Well, but you asked, what's the weakness?
04:28And then if you look at Spain, Italy, France, the French economy, and you look at the EU overall,
04:34and include the UK, I'll include the UK in this too, just for fairness, they're below the state
04:39of Mississippi, which is the 50th lowest GDP per capita US state. So when you ask, where's the
04:43weakness? Well, this is an economic weakness. So it's not pointing at a particular, particular
04:48person. And just this idea of Europe staying Europe, what exactly does that mean? Does that mean a
04:52white Christian Europe? No, I think it means, and I would say this for the United States too,
04:58when people are immigrating into the United States, if you're not going to contribute
05:04economically, if you don't want to become a part of the society, if in fact you reject the basic
05:11tenets of that society, it's probably people we don't want. Those are the kind of people that come
05:16in and you see an increase in the crime rate. You see a decrease in the kind of cultural values
05:21people have. I think there are even European cities where the police now are afraid to go in or don't
05:25go into certain sections. They're governed by different legal standards. I think what he's
05:29saying is that we don't want to see Europe lose its identity as Europe, because we're going to have
05:36to leave it there. But do come back to us please again, stay here on Europe Today.
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