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Speaker 1: Catherine, how are you.

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Speaker 2: I'm fine, Thank you, Michael, good morning.

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Speaker 1: Very keen to ask you about Starmer hanging out with

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Speaker 1: all you guys in Europe, but I'll come to that

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Speaker 1: in just a couple of moment. How freaked out is

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Speaker 1: Europe over all? That's unfolding in front of your eyes

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Speaker 1: as we speak.

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Speaker 2: Well, very freaked out since Donald Trump took off, As

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Speaker 2: of course, mines have been somewhat fun or focused, not

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Speaker 2: just on of course aggressive Russia and need for the

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Speaker 2: US to be an ally, but also of course of

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Speaker 2: Trump's conversations that he's been having with Denmark over Greenland. Now,

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Speaker 2: just as I'm speaking, the twenty seven EU leaders are

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Speaker 2: meeting in Brussels. They've been meeting all day Monday. This

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Speaker 2: is so called informal retreat where they can talk to

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Speaker 2: another hopefully come up with some sort of policy when

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Speaker 2: it comes to defense. The problem is this, Mike, is

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Speaker 2: that Europe realizes that the US is its major ally

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Speaker 2: and really when it comes to defending itself, Europe needs

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Speaker 2: the US. It really doesn't have the defense capability to

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Speaker 2: protect itself against Russia or anyone else. So they've got

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Speaker 2: to figure out what they do when they've got such

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Speaker 2: an uncertain ally in the White House now. President Macron

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Speaker 2: of France has been going on for ages about what

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Speaker 2: he called this European strategic autonomy, this idea that Europe

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Speaker 2: needs to do everything on its own, has to be

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Speaker 2: able to stand on its own two feet. But the

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Speaker 2: problem with that, mic is, as we saw in the

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Speaker 2: early days of the Ukraine or the EU just does

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Speaker 2: not have the military industrial capacity to be able to

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Speaker 2: raank up the military capacity. You cannot make enough shells,

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Speaker 2: cannot make enough tangs. None of this can be done.

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Speaker 2: So that's what they're going to try and decide how

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Speaker 2: far they go with that. The next problem is the course, Mike,

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Speaker 2: a lot of those EU countries do not want to

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Speaker 2: upset the US. You look at countries in Eastern Europe

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Speaker 2: preserve that relationship with the US. So they say, well, okay,

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Speaker 2: let's put more money into defense spenditure, but we're going

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Speaker 2: to need to spend it in the US, buy US

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Speaker 2: weapons because of we sort of if you like, if

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Speaker 2: you hook the US into Europe's defense, then they will

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Speaker 2: remain committed to the US, to the EU. So that's

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Speaker 2: the idea. You've got twenty seven nations all having different ideas,

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Speaker 2: but which way to go next?

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Speaker 1: Right, So here's your next problem. So you talk about

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Speaker 1: terrorists for example, So Germany's about to change administrations. Highly

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Speaker 1: likely they're going to be isolationist and more conservative. So

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Speaker 1: that's potentially a trade war, which is different to macron

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Speaker 1: which is different. You know what I'm saying, it's do

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Speaker 1: they do it alone or do they do it together?

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Speaker 2: Well, they're trying, and it seems very difficult to see

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Speaker 2: how they can have united position. You've got things like

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Speaker 2: Hungry and Slovakia that are so pro Russia that really

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Speaker 2: sometimes you hear what they're saying and you think, wow,

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Speaker 2: you know, did that come straight out of Putin's speech

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Speaker 2: writer or did they write that themselves. Then you have

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Speaker 2: other countries that really are kind of ready to do

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Speaker 2: some sort of deal with the US, particularly when it

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Speaker 2: comes to you to trade. There is a realization that

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Speaker 2: the trade deficit between the EU and the US has

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Speaker 2: been widening since about two thousand and nine. The EU

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Speaker 2: does export more to the US than it brings in.

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Speaker 2: But you just look at it today, Mike, and this

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Speaker 2: is what might be focusing Brains more and Brussels at

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Speaker 2: this moment. Is that all the European and ended in

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Speaker 2: the red today just on the idea that there was

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Speaker 2: going to be this trade dispute. So they're going to

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Speaker 2: have to focus on it, and they're going to have

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Speaker 2: to decide who's going to be the one who's going

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Speaker 2: to talk for everyone. Is it going to be Italy

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Speaker 2: who's looking to be that mediator between Europe and the US?

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Speaker 2: Or are we all going to sort of line up

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Speaker 2: behind Germany that's absolutely reluctant to introduce tarists because they

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Speaker 2: export so many cars to the US. Quick.

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Speaker 1: What's that sneaky little starmer doing there? Is he looking

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Speaker 1: to do something with Brexit EU? All of that or not?

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Speaker 2: He is trying to get more trade, freer trade with

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Speaker 2: the EU and also trying to pave the way for

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Speaker 2: this story which we've covered so much. Might we hear

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Speaker 2: so much about fishing rights in the Atlantic?

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Speaker 1: All right, Nice to talk to you as always, Katherine

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Speaker 1: Catherine Field out of France. Putin says Europe will stand

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Speaker 1: at the feet of the master. He is loving it.

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Speaker 2: For more from the Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to

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Speaker 2: the podcast on iHeartRadio,