US President Donald Trump is back in the United States after his European trip. At summits in Brussels, the United Kingdom and Helsinki, Trump criticized NATO allies and tried to forge a new friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It looks like the trip may have created more problems for Trump than it solved. CGTN's Nathan King wraps up the visit.

Back at the White House but taking no questions - US President Trump arrived back in Washington to a firestorm largely of his own making. In Helsinki Monday Trump seemed to take the word of Russian Vladimir Putin over that of his own intelligence agencies concerning well documented allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 election, which he won.

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today and what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that's an incredible offer."

The reaction of political foes and friends was one of outrage and could complicate plans for a rapprochement with Russia.

CHARLES SCHUMER US SENATE DEMOCRATIC LEADER "He took the word of the KGB over the men and women of the CIA."

Trump maintains that the US must move beyond Cold War thinking when it comes to Russia. But it wasn't just Helsinki, reactions to Trump's rhetoric was felt all over Europe this week. Already facing massive demonstrations against his policies. He gave an interview to a UK newspaper critical of Prime Minister Theresa May's plans to exit the European Union- he ended up apologizing sort of at their joint news conference.

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "I didn't criticise the prime minister, I have a lot of respect for the prime minister. Unfortunately, it was a story that was done, which was you know, generally fine, it didn't put in what I said about the prime minister, and I said tremendous things."

And before the UK visit, Trump rounded on the Atlantic alliance at the Nato summit in Brussels- calling out countries for not paying enough for collective defense and urging spending levels not even the US meets.

DONALD TRUMP US PRESIDENT "Only five of twenty-nine countries were making their commitment and that's now changed. The commitment was at two percent. Ultimately that will be going up quite a bit higher than that."

Criticism of Germany, EU immigration and trade policy added to the feeling that Trump was questioning the fundamentals of the US European alliance. Trump maintains his complaints about NATO defense spending are not new but he's just doing something about it.

NATHAN KING HELSINKI "The Headline in this Helsinki paper the day after the Trump Putin summit reads Trump 0 Putin 1, reflecting the view that the US President did poorly in his first solo meeting with the Russian President- if there were an official score for his whole European Trip, it might reflect a few own goals by the US President. NKI. CGTN, Helsinki, Finland."