ST. PETERSBURG, June 7. /TASS/. Bulgaria does not understand why the US tries to wage a trade war with Europe, if it may affect Euro-Atlantic security, Bulgarian President Rumen Radev said during the plenary session of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).

"Trade wars affect our security architecture deeply. I can understand a trade war between the US and China, the US and Russia, but I cannot understand a trade war between the US and Europe," he said.

"When this showdown began in May 2018, some European leaders were so disappointed that they didn’t even mention that Europe must take its security into its own hands," Radev stated. "You cannot be allies in the sphere of defense and confront each other in the sphere of economy."

According to the Bulgarian leader, "sooner or later, there will be a divide, and this will affect transatlantic relations, the whole architecture of Euro-Atlantic security."

The 2019 St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is being held on June 6-8. The forum’s motto this year is "Creating a Sustainable Development Agenda". The organizer for SPIEF-2019 is the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is a media partner, the official photo hosting agency and the operator of SPIEF’s presentation zones with support from multinational firm EY, and the Foreign Investment Advisory Council in Russia.