US ‘needs Europe’ to face down Russia and China

THE United States needs its European allies to face down the threat of Russia and China, the deputy secretary general of Nato has told The Telegraph.

There are fears Donald Trump could halt military support for Ukraine if he wins November’s US presidential election, or he may withdraw Washington’s security guarantee for Europe entirely.

However, Mircea Geoană said that with the West locked in an era of “great power competition” with autocratic countries such as Russia, its ally China, North Korea and Iran, the transatlantic alliance has never been more important.

“As much as Europe needs America, America, I think, needs all its allies,” he said. “The strategic reality is that China is a formidable challenger and that Russia and China and all the others together will create massive attempts to disrupt American power.”

He added: “There is an intense, aggressive interest from these countries to basically challenge the world order introduced after the end of the Second World War. In this epic struggle, America will need not only its own strength, but also all the [Nato] allies.”

Mr Trump has warned that he would let Russia do “whatever they hell they want” to any Nato member who does not meet its alliance defence spending target of 2 per cent of its economic output.

He was widely criticised for undermining the principle that an attack on one member is an attack on all – which constitutes Article 5 of the alliance pact.

“We worked for four years with president Trump in the White House. The beginning was quite tumultuous,” Mr Geoană said of a period when Mr Trump branded Nato “obsolete”.

However, he said that Mr Trump was “quite positive” about Nato in his final State of the Union address.

“I think strategic logic will prevail and we are confident that America will continue as they’ve done for the past 75 years and continue to be a key player,” Mr Geoană said.

Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, has travelled to the US to convince Republicans to drop their veto on the long-delayed $60 billion (£48million) aid to Ukraine and to meet Mr Trump.

“There is still miscommunication from our side to the US Congress on how much non-us allies are doing,” Mr Geoană said.

“Even Iceland, they don’t have an army but they contribute with cargo transport and things like that.”

In February, Nato announced that a record 18 of its 32 members would meet the 2 per cent of GDP spending target.

Mr Geoană said: “On aggregate, European allies are spending 2 per cent – some will be more, some a little less but all allies have a plan to reach 2 per cent in the relative near future.”

He added: “The 2 per cent is not the target it once was. It is the base, not the ceiling.” European countries want to increase defence spending to replenish supplies after sending arms to Kyiv but the challenge is that Russia has shifted to a wartime economy, Mr Geoană said.

“The No 1 issue now is how to ramp up our industrial production,” he said. The EU is mulling plans to build up its defence industry. Some of the proposals, pushed for by France, include incentives to EU members to “buy European” and limit programmes to bloc members.

Mr Geoană, who leaves his post later this year, called for a “transatlantic industrial base” and not something which creates “unnecessary walls”.

The EU plans are backed by Emmanuel Macron, the French president, who wants to build Europe’s ability to act independently of Washington. It has caused disagreement between France and Germany, which angered Paris after signing a deal for a missile shield using Us-israeli technology last year.

‘There is an intense, aggressive interest from these countries to challenge the world order’