EUROPEAN UNION president Donald Tusk said yesterday that new United States President Donald Trump poses as much of a threat to the bloc as Russia, China and Islamic extremism.

In a letter to 27 EU leaders preceding Friday’s summit in Malta, Mr Tusk mentioned the Trump administration as part of an external “threat” along with the re-emerging superpowers and terrorism.

Echoing statements from many European capitals, he said that those global challenges, “as well as worrying declarations by the new American administration, all make our future highly unpredictable.”