Trump was more vague when asked what he would do if the answer were no.
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“Well, I’m not saying if not”, he said.
Trump said the US must be “properly reimbursed for the tremendous cost” of defending other countries, many of which are “extremely rich”, according to the newspaper’s transcript of the interview. He added, “I would not want to comment on the obligations of other countries to the United States”.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance agreement was crystal clear: ‘We defend each other.
Nato is a military alliance of European and North American democracies created after the Second World War to strengthen global co-operation as a counter-balance to the rise of the Soviet Union. “Look at what is happening in our country”, he added. “I think we have to think about what does this stuff mean”.
Unlike the NATO treaty, USA laws appear to give presidents significant authority to renegotiate foreign trade deals without consulting Congress, trade experts said. It was a major force in the Cold War, and more recently provided the USA with military support for the war in Afghanistan. His primary objection has been economic. There’s no doubt about it. numerous member nations don’t fulfill their own commitment to spend 2 percent of their Gross National Product on defense.
“I think the most charitable interpretation is he already sees himself engaged in negotiation with these (NATO allies) – that there hasn’t been a fair burden-sharing”, said John Hannah, a former adviser in George W. Bush White House and now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. We’re not a rich country….
Referring to what he said were United States trade losses, Mr Trump said: “We are spending a fortune on military in order to lose $800bn”. “We are paying disproportionately”.
“It’s okay to go out here and load your mouth up and say stuff and say, ‘Yeah we are going to come to your aid, we’re going to provide you arms, we’re going to come out and do all these things”.
He also said he wouldn’t “lecture” North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally Turkey about purges of political adversaries or crackdowns on civil liberties after the attempted coup in that country, saying the USA had first to “fix our own mess”.
President Barack Obama’s administration pushed back against the comments. Recall that in April, Russian jets came within 30 feet of a U.S. Navy destroyer during a fly-by in the Baltic Sea.
The United States’ security commitment to NATO Allies is unwavering and the USA has pledged to continue reinforcing its transatlantic bonds, BNS was told at the U.S. embassy in Riga.
Ilves pointed out that Estonia responded to the September 11 attacks on the USA – the only time NATO’s Article V has ever been invoked – by joining the worldwide deployments of troops to Afghanistan.
His fellow Eastern European leaders sought to calm the furor.
The hint that Trump might not come to the rescue of the Baltic states was only one of the eyebrow-raising comments in the interview.
“When Mr. Trump says he’ll only consider action, he is joining a long list of failed statesmen and leaders from decades ago, whose hesitancy, wavering, and lack of resolve”, Clark said in a statement. So it was a bit jarring to hear Bolton, a former member of the George W. Bush administration, criticize Trump, who will accept the GOP’s presidential nomination Thursday night.
Secretaries of Defense Robert Gates and Leon Panetta also complained about NATO’s bureaucracy and what they call its inability to put its theoretical strength into practical deployments on the battlefield. “Aggressive banality versus common sense”. Trump’s threats will not encourage Europe to invest more in its alliance with the United States.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who backed Trump at the party’s national convention, said he totally disagreed with the statement but was willing to “chalk it up to a rookie mistake”.
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NEW YORK TIMES: That’s true, but we are treaty-obligated under NATO, forget the bills part.
