‘I think they’re weak’: Trump slams Europe over migration, Ukraine

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London: US President Donald Trump has called European leaders “weak” and predicted their countries will be destroyed by rising immigration, saying they are afraid of sending people back to where they came from.

Trump also blasted the major European leaders for talking too much about the war in Ukraine without producing results, while declaring that Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky would have to give ground to gain a peace deal with Russia.

US President Donald Trump said European countries will be destroyed by rising immigration.

His sharp critiques highlight the gulf between Trump and the American allies on foreign policy as well as domestic flashpoints, fuelling debate about whether Europe can expect US support in backing Ukraine and confronting Russia.

“I think they’re weak, but I also think that they want to be so politically correct,” Trump said of the European leaders in an interview with news site Politico.

“I think they don’t know what to do. Europe doesn’t know what to do.”

The remarks made headlines in Europe amid deep disputes about the terms of the peace deal, with Trump suggesting Ukraine would have to cede land to Russia, an outcome Zelensky is trying to halt.

While Trump spoke at length about the war during the 40-minute interview, his complaints about Europe centred on migration and cultural change, highlighting the personal opinions behind a highly controversial US foreign policy statement released last week.

“Well, Europe is a different place, and if it keeps going the way it’s going, Europe will not be, in my opinion, many of those countries will not be viable countries any longer,” he said.

“Their immigration policy is a disaster.”

Trump did not name specific leaders whose migration policies he considered weak, but he named London and Paris as two cities he loved that had declined, and he pointed to crime in Sweden as a problem linked to migration.

Trump suggested Ukraine would have to cede land to Russia, an outcome Zelensky is trying to halt.

“They’re coming in from all parts of the world, not just the Middle East,” he said of the migrants.

“They’re coming in from the Congo, tremendous numbers of people coming from the Congo. And even worse, they’re coming from prisons of the Congo and many other countries.”

European leaders, he said, should copy his own policy and turn migrants away: “They want to be politically correct, and they don’t want to send them back to where they came from.”

The comments follow the release of a White House national security statement last week that criticised western leaders in general terms for allowing mass migration. Trump was specific in saying migrants from the Middle East and Africa were part of the problem.

The comments tap into public anxiety in Europe about social change, with politicians such as Nigel Farage in the UK, Alice Wiedel in Germany and Marine le Pen in France gaining popular support with policies to cut the migrant intake. Wiedel, from the Alternative für Deutschland, or AfD, wants a “remigration” policy to send migrants away.

“They’re destroying their countries,” Trump said of the European leaders.

“I get along with them, you know that, but they can’t let this happen. And it gets to a point where you can’t really correct it, there’ll be a point, and it’s very close to that point.

“It will mean that they’re no longer going to be strong nations.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky and Pope Leo XIV wave to journalists during their meeting in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, on Tuesday.

“They’ll change their ideology, obviously, because the people coming in have a totally different ideology, but it’s going to make them much weaker.”

About 21 per cent of people in Sweden were foreign-born, the country’s statistics agency said last year, compared with 12.4 per cent in 2005.

One in six residents of England and Wales were born outside the UK, its statistics agency said. As a proportion of the population, they increased from 13.4 per cent in 2011 to 16.8 per cent in 2021.

In France, immigrants made up 10.3 per cent of the population in 2021, its statistics agency said. That compared to 6.5 per cent in 1968.

US Vice President JD Vance stung European leaders earlier this year with a speech to a security conference in Munich that predicted long-term decline from a “threat from within” and a shift away from conservative social policies.

The national security strategy amplified this by predicting a rift between America and its European allies if they did not turn away from social policies that he regarded as too left-wing.

Trump’s interview with Politico spelled out his concern about population change, and multicultural societies with fewer white people, at a time when this view is often implicit in White House policies.

Asked if he would get involved in European policies by endorsing particular parties, he said he backed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who faced an election last year. Vance lent support to Wiedel and the AfD before Germany’s election this year, when it increased its vote.

On Ukraine, the US President criticised Zelensky and said Russia was in a stronger position to win the war – a remark that continued his shift from his claim in September that Ukraine could win.

Trump’s son, Donald Jnr, said last week that his father could walk away from Ukraine if the peace talks did not progress. Asked about that, the US President said: “It’s not correct, but it’s not exactly wrong.”

Zelensky has pushed back at demands to cede territory and appeared to shore up support for this position in recent days, including visits to London and Brussels to see national leaders before a dash to Rome for an audience with Pope Leo.

Each of the Ukrainian leader’s meetings has been publicised with photographs and videos showing personal support from leaders ranging from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the Pope.

Trump likened Zelensky to circus promoter PT Barnum for his ability to sell a product, but he chided him for not reading a draft agreement prepared by the US and he noted that Ukraine had lost territory to Russia.

“It’s not easy with Russia, because Russia has the upper hand, and they always did,” he said.

“They’re much bigger. They’re much stronger, in that sense.

“I give the people of Ukraine and the military of Ukraine tremendous credit for the, you know, bravery and fighting – all of that. But you know, at some point, size will win generally.”