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Trump’s portrayal of Nato a risk for alliance

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Donald Trump’s portrayal of Nato as an alliance in crisis has raised concern that the US president’s nagging criticism might erode US public support and risk America’s commitment to collective defence, diplomats said.


Allies emerged confused and shaken from a two-day Nato summit in which Trump harangued them over perceived under-spending on defence, accused Germany of being a prisoner to Russian energy and prompted an emergency meeting of leaders trying to contain the fallout from the unexpected tirade at one session.


Nato diplomats complained that the drama around Trump’s comments had overshadowed big decisions that the allies took in areas from defence spending to new weapons and strategies to address Russia’s efforts to destabilise the West through cyber and covert attacks.


While Trump did let the 79-point summit declaration go through, his assertion that “I’ve taken over a lot of bad hands and I am fixing them”, left the impression there were serious problems at Nato, diplomats said.


Nato may now need its friends in the US Congress and in the Republican and Democratic parties to speak out more to prevent permanent damage to alliance’s image in the United States, they said.


The US Senate overwhelmingly approved a motion in support of Nato on the eve of this week’s summit, and former US Secretary of State John Kerry called for more.


“Enough,” the Democrat said of Trump’s style at the summit. “This isn’t good for the United States and there are people across the aisle — as the Senate vote clearly showed — who know it and need to say it,” Kerry said.


The summit decisions, agreed by all 29 allied governments, won hardly any sustained public attention and the underlying unity was undercut by Trump’s claims he had won new pledges in defence spending, forcing the French and Italian leaders into denials that dominated post-summit news conferences.


Nato, founded in 1949 to contain a military threat from the Soviet Union, relies on the United States’ military superiority to face down a host of threats on Europe’s borders, including a resurgent, nuclear-armed Russia and militant attacks.


A commitment to defend each other is the bedrock of the alliance and any suggestion that the United States would not come to Europe’s aid because, as Trump has suggested, they owe “massive” sums, could be a blow to its deterrence.


“President Trump has not taken damaging actions against Nato, but his words are damaging,” said Adam Thomson, a former British ambassador to Nato and now director of the European Leadership Network think-tank in London.


Having lambasted Nato for failing to reach a target of 2 per cent of national income on defence, Trump told fellow leaders in Brussels he would prefer a goal of 4 per cent, similar to US levels, and then claimed victory for forcing countries to move.


He also said he expected an easier meeting with Russian President Vladimir on Monday in Helsinki in remarks that contrast with the West’s accusations that Moscow is seeking to undermine European democracies.


Some European officials feel strongly that NATO should be more confident in calling out Trump’s mis-statements about the alliance.


Trump’s claims that the United States pays for 90 per cent of European security and Nato are incorrect, Nato data shows.


While US defence spending makes up 70 per cent of combined allied governments’ military budgets, just 15 per cent of US expenditure is spent in Europe on Nato-related defence.


Trump has also claimed Germany and others owe money to the United States and Nato, but allied contributions are voluntary and there are multiple budgets.


At 3.5 per cent, the United States’ own annual defence spending is below the 4 per cent-of-GDP level that Trump has said it is, Nato figures show. — Reuters


Robin Emmott


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