US Relations
Prime Minister Saad Hariri led a delegation including the Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil and the central bank governor Riad Salameh to meet with the Trump Administration in August 2016. The purpose of the trip was to “consolidate relations with the new administration and to argue for continued U.S. support for the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF), as well as for refugee assistance and economic investment. Trump mentioned no change in the $80 million per year provided to the Lebanese Armed Forces, and an addition $140 million in refugee aid.
European Relations
Najem notes that “European influence in the Middle Eastern region as a whole is not particularly great, even though the EU is the region’s largest trading partner and one of its main sources of financial assistance. However, Europe has never been able to translate these economic factors into particularly significant political influence. This would seem to be partly a result of great resistance to outside influences by many key regimes in the region. It is also partly explained by the importance attached to the region by the US, and its consequently quite high level of involvement in regional affairs” (Najem, 2003, 223).
Citations
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/lebanon/2017-08-03/hariri-visits-washington
Najem, Tom Pierre, “Lebanon and Europe: The Foreign Policy of a Penetrated State,” The Review of International Affairs, Vol 3. No. 2, pp 209-231