Trump lands in ‘hot spot’ Britain
US President’s comments on Brexit cast a shadow over controversial visit
US President Donald Trump arrived in “hot spot” Britain yesterday after casting doubt on Prime Minister Theresa May’s plans for leaving the European Union and with protests planned across the country where he says the people like him a lot.
After a Nato summit where he provoked a crisis session to force allies to raise their defence spending, Trump landed in Britain for his first visit as president having described the closest US ally in Europe as being in turmoil over Brexit.
May hopes Trump, who landed at Stansted airport before flying by helicopter to the US ambassador’s London residence, will help to accelerate a future free trade deal, though his public comments on Brexit cast a shadow over the visit.
“I’m going to a pretty hot spot right now, right? With a lot of resignations,” Trump told a news conference at the Nato summit in Brussels.
Trump’s trip coincides with a tumultuous week for May after two senior ministers resigned in protest at her plans for trade with the EU after Britain leaves next March.
“The people voted to break it up, so I imagine that’s what they’ll do. But maybe they’re taking a little bit of a different route, so I don’t know if that’s what they voted for,” said Trump.
President Donald Trump ripped into Nato allies Wednesday, slamming Germany for its dependence on Russian energy and demanding that nations double their military spending commitments.
European diplomats have been worried about continued U.S. support for Nato. But even as Trump hit allies, he also signed on to efforts to strengthen the alliance against the Kremlin and other rivals, as well as a statement that the alliance does not accept Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.
On spending, Trump insisted in a closed-door meeting of Nato leaders that the alliance increase its defense targets to 4 percent of each country’s gross domestic product - more than what the United States channels toward its military. It was not clear whether he was serious about a new standard or whether he was using the number as a negotiating tactic to edge overall spending higher and get European nations to pay more.
The push came hours after Trump bashed Germany for “being captive to Russia” because it imports much of its natural gas from there. That tirade, over breakfast with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, was rare in its bitterness.
“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,” Trump said, referring to European purchases of Russian natural gas.
Despite the contentiousness, Trump agreed to a 23-page declaration that Stoltenberg said would guide a more robust Nato defence for years to come. Other Nato leaders welcomed the decision, even as they said Trump’s divisive approach to his allies weakened the alliance.
Stoltenberg sought to project unity at the conclusion of the first of two days of meetings in Brussels.
“We do have disagreements, but most importantly, we have decisions that are pushing this alliance forward and making us stronger,” Stoltenberg said. “At the end of the day, we all agree that North America and Europe are safer together.”
Nato leaders are still concerned that Trump will make concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two meet on Monday in Helsinki.
Trump has complained bitterly about Europe’s lagging defence spending, saying that Nato nations are taking advantage of US military largesse at the same time they are offering unfair trade terms to US businesses.
Only eight of 29 Nato countries are on track to meet pledges of spending 2 percent of their GDPs on defense this year. Washington spent 3.6 per cent last year. When he has talked about it in recent days, Trump has rounded up to 4 percent. And after Wednesday’s meeting, he tweeted with a demand for countries to meet the current 2 percent target.
“President Trump wants to see our allies share more of the burden and at a very minimum meet their already stated obligations,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.
Several Nato experts dismissed the seriousness of the 4 percent proposal. “No country in the world can meet that,” said Bobo Lo, a Russia scholar who attended the summit.
An official present when Trump made the demand said that “the room was aghast,” even though Trump was actually more cordial in private than in his public remarks. The official, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private proceedings. A favourite target of Trump’s ire has been Germany, which has not met its Nato spending commitments and has granted permits for a second natural gas pipeline to Russia. Germany and other European Nato partners argue, however, that they have boosted their contributions to the military alliance and plan to kick in more in coming years. The accusation of Russian influence may have been particularly biting for German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who grew up in Communist-controlled East Germany.
Inside the closed-door meeting, she went further in her pushback, according to two officials who were present. In firm, unemotional language, Merkel told the other 28 leaders how Putin once served as a KGB officer and spy in her own country, making clear that she had little tolerance for being told her nation was controlled by the Kremlin.
Trump traveled to Europe saying that next week’s summit with Putin may be the easiest part of his week of diplomacy an unusual assertion, challenging the notion that Nato should project a strong and united front against a strategic rival.