European leaders were warned not to taunt Donald Trump about the World Cup, amid fears he could retaliate by lashing out at Nato.
Leaders have been walking on eggshells at the Nato summit in Ankara after being told President Trump had been left in a ‘bad mood’ when the United States team crashed out to Belgium.
Nato also looks set to postpone its next summit until 2029 to avoid having to manage another confrontation with the US President, who has long used the defensive alliance as a punching bag.
A diplomatic source said: ‘The leaders have agreed not to mention the football because it’s obvious that Trump is already in a bad mood about it. Everyone just wants to get through this without antagonising him any more.’
President Trump triggered global outrage this week by intervening personally with Fifa president Gianni Infantino to overturn a red card against US star Folarin Balogun.
The red card would have prevented the striker from playing in the crunch round of 16 match against Belgium on Monday. The decision to rescind the punishment cleared the way for him to play, prompting fury in Belgium.
Despite this, the US team were thrashed 4:1 by Belgium, with Balogun failing to trouble the scorers.
The winning team posted a defiant message after the win, saying simply: ‘Overturn this’. Jubilant Belgian players posted footage of themselves in the dressing room mocking Mr Trump’s trademark dance.
Coveted: Mr Trump intervened in the World Cup to help the US team
But, despite the row being the biggest talking point in Belgium, the country’s prime minister yesterday confirmed he had not raised the issue with Mr Trump in Ankara.
Bart de Wever said Mr Trump ‘has the reputation of sometimes reacting a bit irritably to things that he doesn’t like, and I think this defeat will hit hard.’
He added: ‘We didn’t speak about football. We have important matters to discuss, and football is, as they say, the most important of the non-important subjects, but it is still non-important, so I didn’t raise the subject.
‘The United States is our strongest ally, and it remains so. It is our most important partner, and that doesn’t change even if this president is sometimes more critical of the Alliance.’
The gambit appeared to have failed yesterday, with President Trump railing against Nato again – and suggesting he still wants to annex Greenland, which is an autonomous territory for Nato ally Denmark.
Nato has held annual summits in recent years because of the war in Ukraine. But next year’s planned summit in Albania looks set to be cancelled and diplomatic sources said the bloc would not hold a gathering in 2028 because of the US Presidential race. The decision means that Nato leaders are unlikely to meet again until Mr Trump has left the White House.
