"If Trump is re-elected, he will seek to truly eliminate the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which he wanted to withdraw from in the first place. Bolton, who served as an assistant for affairs during Trump's time, revealed in an interview with the Washington Post a few days ago that Trump planned to "blow up" NATO when he was in office, adding to the "scolding war" between Trump and NATO European members. Trump recently publicly said that he "encouraged" Russia to attack any NATO member that has not fulfilled its financial obligations. The remarks caused an uproar among the United States and NATO members, and intensified the anxiety of European and American political circles that Trump may enter a second term. The British newspaper The Guardian commented: "The ghost of 'NATO skeptic' Trump has emerged at the European Security Conference. ”
Trump "never lost his will to get rid of NATO."
The United States, which is recognized as the "leader" of NATO, now seems to be becoming NATO's "number one threat." According to the United States**, Trump recently said at a campaign event that if he wins the United States again**, when those NATO members that have failed to spend enough on defense are attacked by Russia, he will not only not protect these countries, but will encourage Russia to attack them. Trump has repeatedly criticized some NATO members for failing to spend 2 percent of their country's gross domestic product (GDP) on defense each year.
This is not the first time Trump has considered "ruining" NATO. According to Bolton, while attending the NATO summit in Brussels in July 2018, Trump suddenly turned to him as he was about to speak: "Should we make history now and withdraw from NATO?" Bolton said he advised Trump to "go ahead of that line, but don't cross it." Bolton said Trump "never lost his will to get out of NATO."
According to the American "Business Insider" report, in 2000, Trump wrote in a book that withdrawing from NATO "will save the United States millions of dollars every year." Since the beginning of 2016, Trump has been asking NATO members to increase their defense spending. NATO has agreed that each member state should spend at least 2% of its GDP on defense, but the official NATO report shows that only 11 members are expected to meet the "2%" standard by 2024. Trump has publicly expressed strong dissatisfaction with this on many occasions, calling NATO members "leeches" and arguing that the United States has taken on too much defense spending obligations for NATO.
However, CNN said that Trump's accusations about NATO were not true. Trump claims that the U.S. "pays close to 100 percent for NATO," but in 2023, the U.S. share of NATO's military spending has fallen to about 68 percent, and the U.S. now makes about 16 percent of direct contributions to NATO, on par with Germany. According to NATO, if calculated as a percentage of GDP, Poland is up to 39% of defense spending ranks first, while the United States ranks first with 35% ranked second.
The White House used the issue to attack Trump's election
The White House reacted violently to Trump's continued "shelling" of NATO.
On February 10, White House spokesman Bates condemned Trump in a statement, saying that "encouraging an enemy regime to invade our closest allies is shocking and unhinged, and it would also endanger America's global stability and our domestic economy." U.S. ** Biden said Trump's rhetoric made it clear that if he could return to power, he would abandon NATO allies and let Russia "do whatever it wants" against them. Biden bluntly said to reporters: "Can you imagine that the United States would say that before? The whole world heard. Worst of all, he's serious. ”
The fierce reaction from the White House stemmed in part from Trump's strong performance in the Republican primary. At the Republican caucus meeting held on February 8, Trump gained momentum and won the party's primary election "three in a row".
In order to crack down on Trump's election, the Democrats have seized on his NATO-related rhetoric to make a big fuss. According to the New York Times, the Biden campaign is running a one-minute digital ad in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania to attack Trump's remarks about not fulfilling NATO's collective defense obligations. On the occasion of the 60th Munich Security Conference, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that if Trump is re-elected as the United States, he will not hesitate to withdraw from NATO. She urged delegates to take Trump's tough rhetoric seriously, because even if the United States does not "break off diplomatic relations" with NATO, Trump can still refuse to fund it, and in this case, "the United States will only exist in name only."
The Hill reported that former Trump's threatening remarks against NATO revealed the limited power that Congress has over protecting America's commitment to the alliance. "Supporters of NATO" also said that US congressmen have little power to prevent decisions made on US affairs as "commander-in-chief of the three armed services."
In fact, Trump's remarks also sparked panic among some Republicans. Rep. Mike McCaul, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, revealed: "We are going back to the script of the last session. ”
Former U.S. ambassadors to NATO, Nicholas Burns and Douglas Lute, wrote in a 2019 op-ed in The Washington Post: "NATO remains the world's most powerful military alliance, but its greatest danger is the lack of strong, principled U.S. leadership ......for the first time in history."Starting with Truman, each of us believed that NATO was an important interest for the United States, but Trump took a very different path. ”
Europe's allies are in a state of panic and anger
Trump's recent comments about NATO have also drawn sustained attention among America's European allies. Hill, who served on the White House committee during the Trump administration, said at the Muslim meeting that the White House will be run by a "NATO skeptic" is increasingly likely, which has aroused great concern in Europe. "Before, they just asked the same question over and over again: 'How likely is Trump's return?'" They wanted a different answer. I think they've understood ...... by nowTrump is a wake-up call for them. ”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also criticized that "any proposal that allies will not defend each other undermines our security, including the security of the United States, and puts American and European soldiers at greater risk", but he also believes that Trump's rhetoric will not have a substantial impact on NATO's security mechanism, "I expect that the United States will remain a strong and loyal ally of NATO, no matter who wins".
According to Bloomberg, discussions within the European Union have begun on how to prepare for Trump's possible second term. They are worried that if Trump does return to the White House, he may take coercive actions such as tariffs on European countries. "It's no secret that Europe doesn't want Trump back in the White House. CNN commented.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Danish Prime Minister Mette Fraserricksen recently said that Europe needs to become self-sufficient, because even the strongest diplomatic alliance can lead to an uncertain future. Dutch Prime Minister Rutte also said at the just-concluded Muslim meeting that regardless of whether Trump is elected or not, Europe should increase defense spending and increase ammunition production, because it is in Europe's interest. Norbert Röttgen, a member of the German parliament's foreign affairs committee, said on his personal social **: "Everyone should **this Trump** to understand that Europe may soon have no choice but to defend itself." ”
The New York Times commented that Trump's remarks about NATO could push Europe to act alone, and that "essentially, the ongoing debate in Europe is whether alliance members can ensure that the U.S. nuclear umbrella – the ultimate deterrent to a Russian invasion – will continue to cover all 31 NATO members." Trainee reporter Pei Sitong reporter Jiang Tian).
*: China Youth Daily).