Former president Donald Trump said Sunday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s proposal to remove fluoride from the U.S. water system “sounds okay” to him, a position that runs counter to the advice of public health agencies.

“Well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but it sounds okay to me. You know it’s possible,” Trump said in an interview with NBC News’ Dasha Burns, when asked about Kennedy’s proposition.

Kennedy posted on X Saturday, “On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water.”

Trump also said Kennedy would have a big role crafting public health policy in any Trump administration.

Fluoride is naturally occurring in almost all water sources, and some is added to public water to help prevent cavities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The safety and benefits of fluoride are well documented and have been reviewed comprehensively by several scientific and public health organizations,” reads a post on the CDC website.

The American Dental Association says that 70 years of research backs up the safety and efficacy of adding fluoride to water, a process known as community water fluoridation.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the fluoride remark.

Kennedy is also a well known vaccine skeptic, who has helped spread false conspiracy theories about public health. Asked by NBC News whether “banning certain vaccines might be on the table” if Trump were president and Kennedy was in his administration, Trump left the door open.

“Well I’m going to talk to him and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views,” said Trump.

The science on fluoride and water fluoridation is clear. But Trump’s doubts and the questions they could raise for voters about what public health might look like in a Trump White House underscore a serious challenge for the Trump campaign in its final days: Staying on message.

Last weekend, insult comedian Tony Hinchcliffe called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage,” which the Trump campaign distanced itself from.

Those comments dominated the news cycle for several days, until President Joe Biden appeared to call Trump supporters “garbage,” before later saying that was not what he meant.

Republicans argue that voters are not paying attention to every controversial statement from Trump and his allies this week, and instead focused on the bigger issues in the race.

“Voters in Michigan and Ohio and Wisconsin and Pennsylvania and Georgia and North Carolina are all talking about crime and unemployment,'” said Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.

“They’re talking about the border. They’re talking about 70,000 Americans losing their lives to fentanyl. They’re not talking about fluoride.”

European politicians and policymakers are busy preparing for more American protectionism regardless of who emerges as the next leader of the White House after elections next week.

The presidential race has remained a dead heat going into its final few days, with polling consistently rating the candidates, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, as being tied within key battleground states and across the country.

“Whoever wins will be ‘America first’,” a senior European diplomat, who did not want to be named due to the sensitive nature of the transatlantic relationship, told CNBC last week.

“The main concern for the Americans is the economy, and the answer will have to be more economic nationalism — I don’t agree with it, but I don’t see any way around that,” said the senior diplomat, who takes part in confidential talks among the EU leaders.

The comments come after a warning from German Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who on Friday told CNBC there could be retaliation if the U.S. kicked off a trade war with the European Union.

“In that case, we need diplomatic efforts to convince whoever enters the White House that it’s not in the best interest of the U.S. to have a trade conflict with [the] European Union,” he said at the IMF annual meetings in Washington, D.C.

Trade with the United States is extremely important for European nations. The EU and the U.S. have the largest bilateral trade and investment relationship in the world, which reached an all-time high of 1.2 trillion euros ($1.29 trillion) in 2021, according to data from the European Commission, the executive arm of the EU.

Harris is seen, to some extent, as likely to continue current President Joe Biden’s policies, which in economic terms will be remembered in Europe by the Inflation Reduction Act — a sweeping U.S. legislation totaling $369 billion which targets climate and energy policies. The IRA upset many European leaders due to its perceived protectionist nature.

The “America first” policy is likely to have more repercussions for European economies under a Republican presidency. Trump has threatened to impose additional across-the-board tariffs of 10% on European products, which could put a strain on the bloc’s exporters and, according to data from Goldman Sachs, weaken the euro by as much as 10%.

Trump’s first tenure at the White House was a challenging time for some European leaders, who expressed their dislike for the former president’s style and confrontational tone. The two sides often had differing views on trade, defense and technology — among others.

“Trump cannot surprise us anymore, we know how to handle it, we have had to deal with him before,” the anonymous senior diplomat also told CNBC.

A second EU official, who also requested not to be named due to the sensitive nature of the U.S. relationship, told CNBC: “There’s no panic. We are being very pragmatic, but of course we have to prepare for both scenarios.”

The same official added that the European Commission is working on “bold” initiatives regardless of who becomes the next president.

CNBC reported in May 2023 how European officials were already quietly preparing for the possibility of a return of Trump. This meant a focus on cutting dependencies with the U.S. and with China — something that EU leaders continue to target.

In an October statement, the 27 heads of state of the EU called for “more efforts to enhance the Union’s competitiveness, strengthen its economic resilience, secure its industrial renewal and achieve the full potential of the Single Market.”

“It highlights the urgency of taking effective action,” the statement added.

Iran has been one of Russia’s few staunch allies throughout the war against Ukraine, but Tehran now faces the strain of indirectly fighting its nemesis Israel on two fronts.

Under pressure — but still defiant — Iran could start looking to Russia for help, given its need for greater air defense capabilities and military intelligence to detect a highly-anticipated but yet-to-materialize direct Israeli attack on Iran, analysts told CNBC.

Russia is well-positioned to provide Tehran with such capabilities, but the extent to which it will assist the Islamic Republic remains uncertain.

“I fully expect that the Iranians have high expectations of the Russians to provide them with something,” Bilal Y. Saab, associate fellow in the Middle East and North Africa Programme at think tank Chatham House, told CNBC Thursday, noting that reputation is of the utmost importance in international relations — even among authoritarian countries.

“So if the Russians are going to bail on this, it’s going to have consequences with regards not only to its relationship with the Iranians, but to any other partner, such as the Chinese,” he said.

“They’ve got to maintain some kind of reputation that they are good for it, and so I have medium-to-high expectations that they would actually provide them with what they need. Now, whether they provide them with everything they need, this is what nobody knows.”

Russia is unlikely to offer military intervention against Israel on behalf of the Iranians, Saab said, given it is already “too bogged down in Ukraine.”

“It’s also too risky of a game to go against the United States over the Iranians … so I think that [it’s] more likely they would stay on the sidelines and try to help from as far away as possible,” he said.

CNBC has contacted the Kremlin and Iranian foreign ministry for comment and has yet to receive a response.