Watch: Trump reveals why he is happy to be less popular internationally than Obama

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Trump says he is happy to be less popular than Obama in Europe

Trump says he is happy to be less popular than Obama in Europe

President Trump is more than pleased to be less popular internationally than his predecessor.

Trump said at a Monday rally in Fayetteville, N.C. former President Barack Obama should indeed be better-liked abroad because he is making European nations "pay their bills."

"I got other NATO members to pay an additional $100 billion in the last year and a half that they weren't paying," he said.

"They were delinquent. Now we're finally making immensely wealthy countries pay the cost of their defense."

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In an apparent reference America's image being less stellar in some parts of Europe during his administration than under Obama, Trump said he knows why the former president is popular than him.

"Then, I read where Obama is more popular in Germany than Trump -- he's got to be -- I'm making people pay their bills," he remarked.

"The day that I'm more popular than him, I'm not doing my job. They like him more in Europe than they like Trump -- I think they should... it's $100 billion more they're paying [NATO]."

According to Pew Research in 2018, 80 percent of Germans said relations with America had declined over the previous year.

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An April headline from Deutsche Welle declared Obama received a "rock star reception" in Köln earlier this year.

However, Trump said Monday there was at one major European figure who is happy to see him in the White House.

"Secretary-General of NATO [Jens] Stoltenberg is my biggest fan," he claimed.

Trump said he has successfully pressured several countries to pay more of their NATO commitments, as the U.S. routinely pays more than its own minimum requirement per year.