CHINA/ECONOMY/EU/NATO/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump and the prime minister of Slovakia congratulated each other Friday [5-3-19] on the respective strength of their nations’ economies as the two leaders met at the White House. Peter Pellegrini is the latest central European leader to visit the White House as the U.S. works to curry favor in the region as a counterbalance to Russia and China. Pellegrini said Trump has been very clear that European nations must do much more on defense, and he stressed that Slovakia is doing just that. Pellegrini said his country is ahead of schedule to increase its defense spending to 2 percent of gross national product…That’s two years faster than a NATO members’ agreement to move toward 2 percent spending on defense, an agreement that took place during the presidency of Barack Obama. Trump’s pressure, however, might have spurred some countries to increase their spending faster than they planned or to become more serious about moving toward the 2 percent goal.”
-Associated Press, “rump, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Celebrate Strong Economies,” The New York Times online, May 3, 2019