“In the week before U.S. Vice President Mike Pence visited Brussels and pledged America’s ‘steadfast and enduring’ commitment to the European Union, White House chief strategist Steve Bannon met with a German diplomat and delivered a different message, according to people familiar with the talks,” Reuters reports.

“Bannon, these people said, signaled to Germany’s ambassador to Washington that he viewed the EU as a flawed construct and favored conducting relations with Europe on a bilateral basis.”