NATO mystery: How much does Trump support it?
President’s lack of explicit endorsement of ‘Article 5’ could cause future problems
TAORMINA, President
ITALY Trump departs Europe this weekend leaving a mystery in his wake: whether the U.S. truly supports NATO’s collective defense mission.
In his highly anticipated speech at North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, Trump did not specifically endorse a core tenet of the alliance’s treaty that countries will treat an attack on one member as an attack on all. His omission of what’s known as Article 5 was especially striking considering Trump, who once called the organization “obsolete” in the age of terror, has never expressly endorsed it — and was widely expected to do so in his foray into Europe as president.
While Trump and aides insisted he made his commitment to the 68-year-old military alliance very clear, analysts said the speech was, at the very least, a missed opportunity that could cause the still-new U.S. president more problems in the future.
“He failed to mention the one thing that allies were waiting to hear: NATO’s Article 5 pledge, that an attack on one is an attack on all,” said Julianne Smith, director of the Transatlantic Security Program with the Center for a New American Security.
Now, in the wake of a “tsunami of criticism from both sides of the Atlantic,” Smith said that allies “spend months if not years focused on whether or not the United States remains committed to the alliance instead of focusing on important issues like defense spending, counterterrorism, and enhanced deterrence.”
Trump, who has embraced what he calls an “America First” foreign policy and views himself as dealmaker-in-chief, did make a strong push for European leaders to spend more on security. With just 23 of NATO’s 28 members falling short of their goal of committing 2% of gross domestic product to their national defense, Trump said the U.S. contribution was “not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States.”
Critics said Trump appeared tone deaf by demanding countries spend more without also explicitly reinforcing the U.S. commitment to Article 5. Countries’ support of NATO missions has gone beyond just the dollar amounts they contribute, some experts noted, pointing to the alliance’s longtime support of the U.S. — especially during the war on terrorism that followed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Thomas Wright, director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, tweeted that “894 European NATO troops died fighting alongside their American comrades in Afghanistan.”
Administration officials described Trump’s support as selfevident given the setting of his speech, at a ceremony to dedicate a memorial to Article 5. Located at NATO’s new headquarters building, the memorial consists of burnt wreckage from the World Trade Center, destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attack that triggered the only invocation of Article 5 in NATO history.
“This twisted mass of metal reminds us not only of what we have lost, but also what forever endures: the courage of our people, the strength of our resolve and the commitments that bind us together as one,” Trump said. “We will never forget the lives that were lost. We will never forsake the friends who stood by our side.”
Trump is scheduled to return to Washington on Saturday.
“Trump’s first visit to NATO headquarters could have been an easy win for him and the NATO allies. But instead he blew it,” Smith said.
“He failed to mention the one thing that allies were waiting to hear: NATO’s Article 5 pledge, that an attack on one is an attack on all.”
Julianne Smith, director of the Transatlantic Security Program with the Center for a New American Security.