Once US President-elect Donald Trump takes office, it will be necessary to resolve serious dilemmas, said Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs in an interview to LTV programme “Rīta panorāma”.
The president said that cooperation with USA has been very good and sustainable so far, regardless of which party’s representative sat in the White House. Rinkēvičs said he is confident this cooperation will continue.
At the same time, there are a lot of issues that will require serious work, the president admitted. Each time after a new US President takes office, constant diplomatic work is required, reminding us of the things that matter to us, said Rinkēvičs.
Secondly, it will be necessary to resolve rather serious dilemmas, said the president. For example, it is predicted that US will exit from the Paris Climate Agreement. It will not be possible to reach many objectives listed in this agreement without US, said Rinkēvičs.
There is also a risk of potential tariffs for the European Union economy, which will affect us, stressed Rinkēvičs.
At the same time, the topic of defence spending will remain on the table. According to him, Latvia should think about diverting 4% of GDP towards defence. “I can certainly see that our current needs, at least as I have been told, are above 4% of gross domestic product,” he said, allowing for the possibility of Latvia coming close to 5% instead. The government is hard at work on this matter.
The Latvian president said he is worried that not all European allies see it this way. “This will be another situation to address,” commented the president.
Discussions about that will be held at the National Defence Council in February.
He concluded that this year will be unclear and turbulent. Latvian diplomacy and policy makers in both the Baltics and Europe will have to work hard to establish sensible relations. “But a lot of things are definitely going to change,” he stressed.
As previously reported, Donald Trump’s inauguration will take place on Monday, the 20th of January.
The 78-year-old Trump, who was the 45th president of the United States and will become the 47th president, addressed about 20 000 supporters at “Capital One Arena” in Washington on Sunday, promising “the best first day, the biggest first week and the most unusual first hundred days of any presidency in American history.”
The rally also featured future Vice-President James David Vance and billionaire Elon Mask, who played a major role in the Trump campaign and whom Trump is preparing to appoint as head of the government’s efficiency office.
Rallies of Trump’s opponents were also held in Washington and other US cities on Sunday, where speakers supported the right to abortion and also criticized Trump’s views on climate change and immigration.
While foreign leaders are not routinely invited to the US president’s inauguration, Trump has broken that tradition and is expected to be watched by several heads of state and government, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and President of Argentina Javier Milei.
Trump also invited Chinese President Xi Jinping, who will not be present, but China will be represented by Vice-President Han Zheng.
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Publish date : 2025-01-20 00:25:00
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