European officials dismiss claim world leaders 'are laughing' at Trump, praise his 'strong message'

UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — Foreign ministers from European nations with close U.S. ties reacted to Vice President Kamala Harris’ claim world leaders are "laughing" at former President Trump, dismissing the claim. 

During September’s presidential debate, Harris said, "World leaders are laughing at Donald Trump. I have talked with military leaders, some of whom worked with you, and they say you're a disgrace."

When asked about this quote, foreign ministers in attendance at the United Nations High-Level Week stressed they have no view one way or the other on the U.S. election and will work with whomever wins. 

"We are friends of America," Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said, noting Italy and the U.S. are "two sides of the same coin." "If Trump will be the new president of America, we will work with him as we worked with him when he was president of America."

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"We worked well with Biden, with Bush, with Reagan, with Clinton, with Obama," Tajani added. "For us, the transatlantic relations are the key strategy of our foreign policy, Europe and America." 

Foreign ministers of Lithuania and the Czech Republic stressed that they will not interfere in the election by stating a preference, instead saying they "leave it to the American citizens to decide." 

"My role is not to comment on such a political statement," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said. 

However, Lipavsky praised Trump’s "strong" message of defense spending, which he hoped Europe would continue to embrace in the face of Russian aggression against Ukraine. 

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"The point is that Donald Trump had, at his time, one strong message for Europe, and that message was quite resonating and is resonating more now because he was saying spend more on your defense," Lipavsky said. 

"My government is spending more on our defense," he added. "We want to reach those 2% of GDP, will be reaching them this year, and we will continue next year. So, (if) Donald Trump would be a president with this message, ‘Please spend 2%," we would be OK."

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis highlighted the "very long history" between the two countries, saying that the relationship is "more than politics." 

Instead, he reiterated the message that whoever wins the election will need to focus on the same message of defense spending that Trump pushed during his first administration. 

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Prior to the Trump administration, only a few members of NATO had upheld their commitment to spend 2% of GDP on defense, but that number rose sharply due to Trump’s insistence and hard-line stance over the issue. 

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in June reported that 23 of the 32 member states have hit the minimum spending requirement, which helped improve the bloc’s ability to support Ukraine and, potentially, deter Russian aggression beyond its current ambitions. 

No European nation, though, has touted the success of Trump’s first term and expressed hopes for a strong second term as has Hungary. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó revealed his government would have "huge expectations" for a new Trump administration. 

"We have huge expectations because we do believe that many of the major crises which give us a lot of concern can be resolved by an administration of President Trump," Szijjártó said, noting he speaks as the longest-serving foreign minister in NATO with 10 years under his belt. 

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"I didn't really see anyone laughing at Trump," Szijjártó said. "What I've seen many having fear. I've seen many being afraid of a U.S. president being honest, not a hostage by the liberal mainstream, representing a patriotic position, speaking clearly about America first."  

Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have done little to hide their rosy friendship, with Trump invoking the Hungarian leader as a "strong man of Europe" who speaks well of the former president. 

Orbán proved this is a mutual dynamic when he chose to leave the NATO summit in Washington, D.C., earlier this year to instead meet with Trump in Mar-a-Lago in Florida to discuss foreign relations.

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"Under President Trump, everything was under control," Szijjártó said. "Since President Trump has left office, the whole global security situation is deteriorating. So, I mean, these are experiences." 

"If we base it on our experience, we say yes, from a perspective of U.S.-Hungary relations, I think President Trump would bring another impetus, freshness, dynamism to this relationship. And I think if President Trump is elected, I think the world has a good chance to become a more peaceful place compared to the current situation."  

The Associated Press contributed to this report.