Donald Trump former US president said he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” to the NATO countries that don’t pay enough for defense.
During his rally in South Carolina. Trump said he told the leaders of countries who are NATO members that the US government will not protect them if they don’t pay their fair share in spendings.
“I said: ‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump recalled. “No, I would not protect you. In fact, I would say them to do whatever the hell they want to. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills,” he said.
With Ukraine in need of help from US these comments will do little to ease tensions in Europe about their dependency on US. It all comes as President Vladimir Putin pushes on with his special security operation in Ukraine, to which some NATO members have generated concerns that Russia might invade other allied nations.
What is NATO?
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949 to provide a collective defence against the Soviet Union. Article 5 is the pillar of this agreement, which states that an attack on one ally will be considered as an attack on all the members.
Trump has a long-standing argument about NATO and sparred with leaders of the member states, reportedly he has also threatened to pull US out of this alliance over demands that member nations must hit the 2% GDP target on defence.
After coming to power President Joe Biden has assured the NATO members of the US commitment to its allies, a stark contrast from Trump his Republican predecessor.
In January 2024 Biden signed a $886 million defence bill that bars a president from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO, which could disrupt Trumps 2024 campaign pledge to reevaluate NATO’s purpose and its mission.
Trump’s latest comments were “appalling and unhinged.” According to White House spokesperson Andrew Bates.
“Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged — and it endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home,” Bates said.
According a report released last year showed that only 11 out of 30 members were spending 2% of their GDP on defence. But the figure is a target and a compulsory requirement.
Finland has become the 31st NATO member and now Sweden is in the process of joining. Defense Minister of Denmark warned that the new threat based on the gathered intel point that Moscow could attack NATO member within 3-5 years.
Other than his views on NATO, Trump also talks about the recent failure to pass a bipartisan border deal.
“We crushed crooked Joe Biden’s disastrous border deal. Mike Johnson did a very good job,” said Trump.
It is reported that Trump wanted to use the crises in southern borders as a political tool to win re-elections in coming November.
As said by a high level European official last month, Trump had told European officials while he was in office that he would never help Europe if it came under attack.
“It would be more reasonable to assume that Trump is preparing the ground for abandoning Europe and for striking deals with Russia over our heads,” said Edward hunter Christie a former NATO official and a reputed research fellow the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
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