A month ago, Donald Trump warned that if he returned to the White House after the U.S. presidential election, he would let Russia do “whatever the hell they want” to those allies who do not invest enough in defense. Now he’s changed his mind.
Europe owes at least temporary breathing space to someone from whom it could hardly have expected it. Trump gave an interview to Nigel Farage and his TV channel GB News. He is the founder of the UKIP party that advocated for the UK to leave the EU, which, by putting pressure on conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, ultimately led to Brexit: the biggest crisis in the history of integration.
It is to Farage, who repeatedly interviewed Trump in the past, that the billionaire made a promise that America will “100%” remain in NATO under his leadership. In 2018 and recently, there were multiple signals that the Republican president was considering withdrawing the country from the Atlantic Alliance.
Asked if the U.S. would come to Poland’s aid or that of other NATO countries if threatened by Russia, Trump replied, “Yes.” But the U.S. must pay its due share of the cost, and not everyone’s due share. “NATO has to treat the U.S. fairly because if it’s not for the United States, NATO literally doesn’t even exist,” Trump said.
He stressed that the functioning of the alliance should depend primarily on the European countries because the U.S. is separated from threats on the old continent by the “nice, big beautiful ocean.”
The billionaire did not regret his recent statements that cast doubt on the credibility of NATO. On the contrary, according to him, thanks to them, a broad stream of investment from the allies now flows. However, he did not give examples.
Donald Trump Says the US Will Not Leave NATO. Is He Soothing Europe’s Nerves?
Yet Trump is completely unpredictable. That is why his statements are received with caution in Europe.
Trump’s declaration, however, will not put an end to doubts in Europe as to the billionaire’s intentions in case he returns to the White House. Sources in the Polish government indicate that if Trump is stable in anything, it is in his unpredictability. And much more so toward the allies than adversaries.
According to the latest NATO figures, 18 of its 32 allies spent 2% of their GDP on defense last year. This year Germany will join them, although still in 2023 our Western neighbor spent $14 billion less on its armed forces than would result from the commitments made at the summit in Wales in 2014. Yet this is still twice as small a gap as it was 10 years ago.
Spain and Italy have a bigger problem. Each country spent $11 billion less last year than they had committed. That’s the same as a decade ago.
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