Trump is pulling NATO, the United States is not calm at home and abroad, what should Europe do?
The U.S. primary has just begun, and Trump has caused an uproar at a campaign rally in Nevada. His onslaught at NATO has struck tensions at home and abroad, and European countries in particular. Trump has repeatedly expressed doubts about NATO, arguing that European countries are not fair enough to the United States in terms of military spending. He even drew a clear line for European countries a few years ago, requiring each NATO member to spend more than 2 percent of its own GDP on its military. This demand has caused dissatisfaction among European leaders and made Trump much disliked.
Compared with a few years ago, Trump now dares to raise new questions about NATO, and the reason is not for nothing. For nearly two years, the experience of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has provided Trump with new arguments. In his opinion, this conflict revealed the cunning of European countries. The United States has invested more than $200 billion in the conflict, while European countries have invested just over $20 billion. Trump stressed that the defense of Ukraine is important for both European countries and the United States, but European countries seem unwilling to pay enough for their own security and prefer to rely on the United States.
Trump's rhetoric goes straight to the essence of the problem, and he believes that the Russia-Ukraine conflict is actually a confrontation between European countries and Russia using American money, and ultimately it is still to protect the security of European countries. This has led Trump to believe that European countries are only fooling the United States, and he argues that European countries should pay for their own problems. Mr. Trump, a businessman-turned-businessman with a focus on cost-effectiveness, is trying to save the United States money, especially in the face of the reluctance of European countries to devote enough resources to common defense.
Historically, NATO's adversary, the Soviet Union, has long since collapsed, and the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact dissolved decades ago. NATO should have been dissolved long ago, after all, it is undoubtedly a waste of US financial resources to insist on creating enemies when there is no enemy. The U.S.** debt remains high, and if it continues to grow at this rate, it may one day not even be able to pay interest. Trump is trying to ease the burden on the United States by dismantling NATO, and while European countries may not pay the price if the United States is attacked, this view is somewhat plausible.
Trump's rhetoric and stance were widely controversial in the primaries, but they also reflected a pragmatic consideration. His suspicion of NATO and his dissatisfaction with the sharing of military expenditures by European countries may become the direction of US foreign policy adjustment in the future. In this era of globalization, international cooperation remains the key to maintaining peace and stability, but how to achieve fair sharing of responsibilities in cooperation will be a long-term and complex issue.