Trump’s Europe Visit To Focus On NATO’s Role In Fighting ISIS, Paris Climate Deal

President Donald Trump will attend his first NATO summit and attend the opening ceremony of the alliance's new headquarters in Brussels. Trump will discuss about NATO's role in curbing increasing Taliban violence and attacks by the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, reports said.

The summit will be attended by the 27 other members of NATO who are awaiting Trump's comments on the group. The group members also seek reassurance about U.S.' commitment to NATO. Trump had created fear amongst NATO member countries in January when he called the long-running combined military and diplomacy effort of the U.S. and Europe “obsolete.”

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However, last month, during a joint news conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House, Trump reversed his views on the NATO and called it "no longer obsolete." Trump also said that it had been the "bulwark of international peace and security."

Ahead of Thursday's meetings between Trump and European leaders, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters that the president was yet to make a final decision on whether the U.S. would remain in the Paris climate agreement, BBC reported.

Newly elected French President Emmanuel Macron would try to convince Trump Thursday to stick to the global deal to fight climate change ahead of G-7 summit in Sicily, Italy, Reuters reported citing diplomats.

Trump who is a critic of the concept that climate change is man made and called it a "hoax" had made a campaign pledge to "cancel" the 2015 Paris Agreement. But he postponed the decision on whether or not to withdraw U.S. from the Paris climate agreement.

Apart from climate change, financial commitments will also be discussed in the meeting. Trump would compel the NATO members Thursday to boost their financial contribution to the alliance, which is at least two percent of the member countries' GDPs on defense.

"I think you can expect the President to be very tough on them, saying, 'Look the US is spending 4%. We're doing a lot. The American people are doing a lot for your security for our joint security. You need to make sure you're doing your share for your own security as well,' " Tillerson said.

France and Germany will agree to take a bigger role in the fight against Islamic militants, particularly the ISIS in the NATO meeting. However, the two nations had argued that the move is symbolic, reports said.

Reuters reported citing a senior European NATO diplomat that among the concerns of Germany and France taking a bigger role in fighting ISIS militants is that NATO might be caught up in another costly, Afghan-style deployment. This could irk some Arab countries or risk confrontation with Russia in Syria.

"They are not buying it," said the diplomat, who said some other nations including Greece and Italy were also wary of the plan.

"They want to know what difference would it make. All 28 NATO allies are already part of this effort," the diplomat said, referring to a 68-nation U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State group that includes all NATO members.