NATO ‘obsolete,’ Trump claims
BERLIN • Donald Trump called NATO obsolete and predicted that other European Union members would follow the U.K. in leaving the bloc, according to an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper.
Quoted in German from a conversation in English, Trump predicted Britain’s exit from the EU will be a success and portrayed the EU as an instrument of German domination with the purpose of beating the U. S. in international trade. For that reason, Trump said, he’s fairly indifferent whether the EU breaks up or stays together, according to Bild.
Trump’s reported comments leave little doubt that he will stick to campaign positions and may in some cases upend decades of U. S. foreign policy, putting him fundamentally at odds with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on issues from free trade and refugees to security and the EU’s role in the world.
NATO, Trump said, “has problems.”
“It’s obsolete, first because it was designed many, many years ago,” Trump was quoted as saying. “Secondly, countries aren’t paying what t hey should” and NATO “didn’t deal with terrorism.”
While those comments expanded on doubts Trump raised about NATO during his campaign, he reserved some of his most dismissive remarks for the EU and Merkel, whose open-border refugee policy he called a “catastrophic mistake.”
In contrast, Trump praised Britons for voting last year to leave the EU. People and countries want their own identity and don’t want outsiders to come in and “destroy it.” The U.K. is smart to leave the bloc because the EU “is basically a means to an end for Germany,” Bild quoted Trump as saying.
“If you ask me, more countries will leave,” he was quoted as saying.
On Ryssia, Trump said he might use economic sanctions imposed for Vladimir Putin’s encroachment on Ukraine as leverage in nuclear-arms reduction talks.
The outgoing chief of the CIA said Sunday that Trump f ails to understand t he threat posed by Russia.
John Brennan, who leaves his post on Friday, said Trump should not lift sanctions against Russia and said the president-elect’s undisciplined style could pose a risk to national security.
“I don’t think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia’s intentions, and actions that they are undertaking in many parts of the world,” Brennan told Fox News.
“I think Mr. Trump has to understand that absolving Russia of the various actions that it’s taken in the past number of years is a road that he, I think, needs to be very, very careful about moving down.”
The CIA director said that the president- elect must change his ways for the sake of the security of the U.S.
“I think Mr. Trump has to understand that this is more than being about him,” he said. “Now that he’s in a position to actually do something about our national security as opposed to talking and tweeting, he is going to have tremendous responsibility to make sure that U.S. national security interests are protected and advanced.”
Trump is expected to launch a widespread review of America’s place in the world when he takes office later this week — and has already spoken disparagingly about both the EU and NATO in recent months.