Trump’s blunt message to Nato

When it comes to international diplomacy, President Donald Trump is no milquetoast mumbler. He can be undiplomatically blunt, even rude, but that doesn’t automatically mean he’s wrong. Take the longstanding dispute between the United States and its Nato allies over how much everyone contributes to the collective defence of Europe.

Trump scorched the sensibilities of Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and German Chancellor Angela Merkel with this zinger: “Germany, as far as I’m concerned, is captive to Russia because it’s getting so much of its energy from Russia.” He also declared: “We have to talk about the billions and billions of dollars that’s being paid to the country we’re supposed to be protecting you against,” referring to European purchases of Russian natural gas.

Why would he say that? Because it’s true, and to Trump (and many other Americans) it’s galling. For the past several years, only a handful of Nato members have cleared the bar of spending 2 per cent of their gross domestic product on defence. Thus, Trump’s mission is to shame France, Germany and other European countries into finally contributing their due.

He also took a final shot at goading Nato deadbeats. He called for Nato countries to boost military spending to 4 per cent of GDP.

Europe, over to you. Again.