Trump comes out swinging at conference
BRUSSELS — President Trump wasted no time.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg could barely finish the protocol greetings at Wednesday’s breakfast when Trump launched into a clearly preplanned attack on Germany, its level of military spending and dependence on Russia for natural gas.
In a harsh rebuke at the opening of the NATO summit, Trump called Germany “totally controlled” and “captive to Russia” because of energy dependency and for a new pipeline, Nordtream 2, that would double the amount of gas Russia can send directly to Germany while bypassing Ukraine and Poland.
“Germany, as far as I’m concerned, is captive to Russia because it’s getting so much of its energy from Russia,” Trump told the startled Stoltenberg. “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.
“I think it’s something that NATO has to look at,” Trump said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, politically weakened at home, reacted mildly but pointedly to Trump’s remarks, having grown up in Soviet-occupied East Germany.
“I myself experienced a part of Germany that was controlled by the Soviet Union and I am very happy today that we are united in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany,” she said as she entered the NATO building. “We decide our own policies and make our own decisions, and that’s very good.”
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas gave a much sharper response, writing on Twitter, “We are no captives — neither of Russia nor of the United States.”
In the private meeting that followed, participants said, Trump repeated his demand that the NATO allies rapidly increase their military expenditures to the NATO guideline of 2 percent of gross domestic product. Under the current plan, they have until 2024 to reach that level.
He also surprised the participants by suggesting that the alliance should commit to lifting future spending to 4 percent of GDP, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite said.
By charging that Germany is in thrall to Moscow, Trump appeared to be attempting to deflect criticism that he is too accommodating toward Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he meets Monday in Helsinki, suggested Derek Chollet, a former assistant secretary of defense.