Trump's Europe trip: Where he's going on his 7-day visit with NATO allies and Putin

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump departs Tuesday for the seventh foreign trip of his presidency, visiting Western European countries and then sitting down for a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

In combining meetings with NATO and British allies with a Russian tete-a-tete, Trump will display two hallmarks of his foreign policy: Getting tough on allies and trading partners over their defense spending and trade policies, while opening the door to better relations with longtime adversaries like Russia, China and North Korea.

Trump is expected to make four stops over the seven days: Brussels; London; Glasgow, Scotland; and Helsinki.

A rundown of the itinerary:

Brussels: NATO Summit

The first stop is Brussels, the headquarters of the North Atlantic alliance and the site of Trump's second NATO summit. Last year's summit was also held in Brussels, making Belgium one of only two countries he will have visited twice. (He had two stops in Italy last year.)

Trump will meet Tuesday with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg before participating in high-level sessions with the 28 allies on Wednesday.

The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hutchison, said the meetings would focus on NATO's mission of countering Russia.

"Our major areas of deterrence would be Russia and the malign activities of Russia, the efforts of Russia to divide our democratic nation, INF Treaty violations," she told reporters last week. The U.S. has accused Russia of violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which generally forbids nuclear and conventional missiles in Europe.

NATO summits also provide a venue for discussions with Georgia and Ukraine, who are not NATO members but have sought its protection from Russia, and with leaders of Afghanistan about the NATO strategy to defeat the Taliban there.

London: A long-awaited visit 

Trump's visit to the United Kingdom ends nearly six months of missed opportunities, scheduling conflicts and speculation about the state of the "special relationship."

Indeed, Trump has waited longer to visit the closest U.S. ally than any modern president – except for Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford, who skipped the country entirely.

In just over 24 hours in England beginning Thursday afternoon, he will attend a black-tie business dinner at Blenheim Palace, working meetings with Prime Minister Theresa May at her country home at Chequers, and a tea-time visit with Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle.

He will travel to most of those meetings by helicopter, meaning he can likely avoid the large-scale protests in central London, including a giant "Baby Trump" blimp.

Scotland: A golf weekend

Think of it as a European Mar-a-Lago: Trump's schedule includes a weekend getaway at a Trump-owned golf course in Scotland.

Trump owns two golf courses in Scotland: the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, and Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire. A British official told reporters Friday that Trump would be staying at Turnberry.

But the president also has a family connection to Scotland. His mother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, was born in the Western Isles and emigrated to the United States when she was 18.

There are no official events on the schedule, while in Scotland, but U.S. ambassador to Great Britain Woody Johnson said Trump would "spend some time preparing for Helsinki."

Helsinki: The Trump-Putin summit

Trump has met his Russian counterpart twice before, but those meetings were at gatherings of other world leaders – "on the margins," in diplomatic parlance, of summits in Hamburg, Germany, and Da Nang, Vietnam, last year.

The Helsinki meeting will be the first formal meeting with the Russian president.

After arriving Sunday evening and attending the traditional meet-and-greet with embassy officials, Trump will hold a series of meetings on Monday, July 16.

The first is with the host, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, followed by three back-to-back sessions with Putin: a one-on-one with just translators and note-takers, a larger meeting with advisers, and then a working lunch.

"What is important in all these cases is dialogue. And this can take many forms. But what is important here is that we start a discussion," said Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador to Russia. "The president has determined that now is the time for direct communication between himself and President Putin, and that it is in the interest of the United States, in the interest of Russia, in the interest of peace and security around the world. And that's the way he's proceeding."

Trump is scheduled to return to Washington after the meetings on July 16.

WPXI