NATO allies largely see Trump as wild card

His defense of Putin could derail attempt for unity at summit

WASHINGTON — As he heads into this week’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit meeting, President Donald Trump is widely seen as a wild card among allies who are seeking to show solidarity against Russian threats, fixated instead on his spending grievances and primed for a bitter confrontation that could further isolate the United States.

‘Quite a bit of concern’

Trump’s increasingly strident complaints about NATO and apparent willingness to give the benefit of the doubt to President Vladimir Putin of Russia have worried the United States’ staunchest allies — and some within his own administration — and threaten to transform the gathering in Brussels into a showcase for dysfunction rather than unity.

The concerns are particularly acute against the backdrop of Trump’s planned meeting with Putin next week in Helsinki, Finland, raising the prospect that he will warmly embrace the authoritarian leader of a U.S. adversary just after alienating allies.

“The biggest deliverable of any of these summits is solidarity and sending a clear message to countries like Russia that the alliance isn’t going to be divided,” said Derek Chollet, the executive vice president for security and defense policy at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. “So there is quite a bit of concern about a blowup.”

“If you’re Vladimir Putin, and one of your core goals is to divide the United States from Europe and to show that the NATO alliance is a paper tiger, you’re feeling pretty good right now,” Chollet said.

Advisers strike sharper tone

In private conversations, the president has been dismissive of the military alliance and the European Union, suggesting both entities exist to take advantage of the United States and strip it of capital.

Trump has dismissed concerns about Putin as overblown.

Trump’s advisers have struck a far sharper tone against Russia. They say that the president is ready to confront Putin about Russia’s “malign activities,” and that the United States wants a strong and unified NATO.

“The major thing, the major deliverable, the major overall theme of this summit is going to be NATO’s strength and unity,” Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, said in a conference call with reporters last week.

Laetitia Vancon / New York Times Capt. Sean Brown of the U.S. Army National Guard, second from left, goes over an upcoming training exercise outside Vilnius, Lithuania. In the face of expected criticism from the American president, NATO allies are expected to emphasize the gains they...