European Union President Donald Tusk says China, Russia and the new U.S. administration of President Donald Trump are among the top external threats facing the bloc.

His remarks came in a letter to 27 EU leaders ahead of a summit Friday in Malta.

“Particularly the change in Washington puts the European Union in a difficult situation; with the new administration seeming to put into question the last 70 years of American foreign policy,” Tusk said.

Trump has insisted on policies that put the U.S. first, and has questioned whether NATO members are contributing their fair share to the alliance.

Tusk laid out a defense of the EU, saying it has never faces more dangerous challenges and that Europe needs “courage, determination and political solidarity.”

He said the EU must stand up for its dignity in talks with the U.S., Russia, China or Turkey, and must not give in to populist arguments and xenophobic sentiments that go against European integration.

“It must be made crystal clear that the disintegration of the European Union will not lead to the restoration of some mythical, full sovereignty of its member states, but to their real and factual dependence on the great superpowers: the United States, Russia and China.  Only together can we be fully independent,” Tusk wrote.

With Trump calling for renegotiated trade deals that favor the U.S., Tusk advocated for the EU to protect its citizens and businesses and remember “that free trade means fair trade.”

He ended the letter by saying the EU cannot give in to those who want to “weaken or invalidate” the bond between the U.S. and the EU.

Tusk wrote, “We should remind our American friends of their own motto: United we stand, divided we fall.”
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