Trump rips Germany at NATO summit
Says ally ‘is totally controlled by Russia’ and makes new spending demands
BRUSSELS — U.S. President Donald Trump upended the show of unity at NATO’s annual summit Wednesday as many allies had feared, claiming that Germany “is totally controlled by” and “captive to Russia,” and inflating his demands that the alliance’s members spend more on defence to an unrealistic level.
The president’s comments in Brussels, especially his harsh and unexpected attack on Germany, Europe’s leading power, overshadowed the alliance’s ostensible business and undercut its ultimate summit declaration of NATO allies’ commitment to shared values and a joint defence against Russian aggression.
His attack on Germany as beholden to Russia, because of a pipeline project, was in keeping with Trump’s practice of accusing others of behaviour he has been accused of. It comes after he irked allies last month by suggesting that Russia should be readmitted to the Group of 7 industrialized democracies.
Trump is set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday, a gettogether that has U.S. allies apprehensive given his frequent warm words for the autocrat.
The president’s posture toward close allies has been increasingly and remarkably confrontational this year, especially in comparison to his more conciliatory approach to adversaries, including Russia and North Korea. Even as he flew to Brussels, Trump continued his attacks on NATO allies for not spending more on defence, and after hours of meetings Wednesday he reiterated his disdain in a tweet that began: “What good is NATO … ?”
As his latest remarks filtered back to the U.S., some Republican congressional leaders criticized the president for his slams against Germany and other allies, though others defended him.
Among Democrats, former Secretary of State John Kerry called Trump’s statements “disgraceful, destructive,” and the party’s congressional leaders — Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi — in a statement said the president’s comments were an “embarrassment” and “another profoundly disturbing signal that the president is more loyal to President Putin than to our NATO allies.”
In closed-door summit meetings, Trump significantly increased his previous demands for NATO allies’ defence spending, saying each of the 29 member nations should budget an amount equal to four per cent of their economies as measured by their gross domestic product — up from two per cent.
While NATO in 2014 set the goal that each nation reach the two percent level by 2024, Trump told allies to do so immediately. Doubling that, which allies reject, would require that the U.S. — now at 3.5 per cent of GDP — increase its military spending as well.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who throughout the day emphasized the steady increases in member nations’ military spending in recent years, giving Trump some credit, later told reporters that the alliance would focus on meeting its current goal.
Stoltenberg has strived to maintain good relations with Trump, but his calm demeanor at a news conference at day’s end could not dispel the palpable tension caused by an American president who gives short shrift to longtime alliances. White House aides privately acknowledged that Trump’s posture reflected his transactional approach, and was intended to create leverage on trade issues as well as security.
Though Trump had been expected to shake things up in Brussels, especially after he had broken with allies last month at the G7 summit in Quebec, his performance still was something of a shock that drew widespread criticism.
Nicholas Burns, who was the U.S. ambassador to NATO on Sept. 11, 2001, after which the alliance voted to come to the aid of the United States, said, “Our big strategic advantage over Russia is we have these big alliance systems and they don’t. That’s a very big part of America’s influence in the world and the president doesn’t see that, because he’s so narrowly focused on trade disputes.”
At a breakfast with Stoltenberg before the summit, Trump redirected a question about his looming meeting with Putin by suggesting that a natural gas pipeline project has made Germany subservient to Russia. He apparently was referring to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which would dramatically increase the amount of gas Russia is able to export directly to Germany.
“Germany is totally controlled by Russia,” Trump said. “You tell me if that’s appropriate, because I think it’s not.”
Merkel delivered a public retort upon arriving at the summit. The chancellor, who grew up during the Cold War years in the former East Germany, under the Soviet Union’s control, archly stated that she didn’t need to be lectured about dealing with authoritarian regimes.
“I have experienced myself how a part of Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union,” she said. “I am very happy that today we are united in freedom, the Federal Republic of Germany. Because of that we can say that we can make our independent policies and make independent decisions.”