“We are spending a fortune on a military in order to lose $800 billion”, Trump said.
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For example, asked about Russia’s threatening activities that have unnerved the small Baltic States that are the most recent entrants into NATO, Mr. Trump said that if Russian Federation attacked them, he would decide whether to come to their aid only after reviewing whether those nations “have fulfilled their obligations to us”.
“For decades, the United States has given an ironclad guarantee to our North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies: we will come to their defense if they are attacked, just as they came to our defense after 9/11”.
Trump, who said he would press the theme of “America First” at his address Thursday night to the Republican National Convention, said allies would adjust to his approach.
In a preview of what he will tell convention-goers in his speech, he outlined a foreign policy strategy aimed at reducing United States expenditure and involvement overseas.
“Look at what is happening in our country”, he said.
“I don’t think we have a right to lecture”, Trump said, adding that the USA should fix its own mess before trying to alter the behavior of other countries. “I don’t think so”.
Asked if Mr. Erdogan was exploiting the coup attempt to purge his political enemies, Mr. Trump did not call for the Turkish leader to observe the rule of law, or Western standards of justice. But Mr Trump chose not to make a similar statement.
“I don’t think we have the right to lecture”, the Times quoted him as saying during the 45 minute interview in a downtown Cleveland hotel suite.
The Republican candidate also said that he would reassess the costs to the United States of longstanding defence treaties, potentially forcing allies to take on those costs.
Referring to what he said were USA trade losses, Mr Trump said: “We are spending a fortune on military in order to lose $800bn”. “That doesn’t sound very smart to me”.
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“If we decide we have to defend the United States, we can always deploy” troops from the U.S., Trump told the newspaper, “and it will be a lot less expensive”.
