Allies craft wording for NATO that could attract Trump

Washington (AP) – European allies in NATO are increasing their military spending, as Donald Trump wanted. They are pointing to common interests, such as concerns over China. They are growing American jobs by buying American guns.

In an exchange of words, deeds and hands, the leaders of America’s partners in NATO are making the case for a military alliance in ways likely to appeal to a potential Republican presidential nominee. Even though their moves aren’t necessarily in line with Trump’s provocations, aides are framing them in terms he’ll accept — and perhaps take away credit for.

It is now unclear what Trump will do about US involvement in NATO if elected. He has ignored newspaper questions, while President Joe Biden has presented them as a warning to the 75-year-old Western military alliance.

However, EU leaders are concerned. With Russia stepping up missile attacks on cities in self-ruled Ukraine in the heart of Europe, the fight to secure the US in NATO is about more than sportsmanship for the ECU partners. For some, it is existential.

“If Ukraine loses, the next match will be against my country. That’s clear,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis noted all the way through during the NATO summit in Washington this hour.

His executive is raising taxes to bolster military capacity at the base of Russia’s war in Ukraine, a pressure shared through nearly all ECU NATO contributors.

At the extreme, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg somewhat claimed that allies have got Trump’s message, with a reported 23 out of 32 now spending no less than the agreed-upon 2% of their GDP on their forces. Have been.

“The United States has been persuaded. The allies have taken action,” Stoltenberg declared in response to one of several questions about Trump’s possible withdrawal from NATO.

Stoltenberg and most others have previously said that it was primarily Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine that boosted security spending by NATO members in Europe. In fact, only six associates met the spending target in 2021.

The message from Europe, as it makes a case for the country with the largest military and economy to stay engaged: America is good for European allies and NATO. And NATO and European allies are good for America and a Europe that is secure and stable is a big market for America

“This defense of Europe is not just a defense of values ​​– it is alliances, it is democracy, it is values. But you know, this is business,” Jacek Siewiera, the head of Poland’s national security bureau, said in an interview with The Related Press before the summit.

Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurinas Kašinas noted the priorities that his country would share with Trump if he returned to the White House – making EU defense more self-reliant, buying more American guns and thus countering the perceived security of US handoffs. To generate additional business. Blackmailing the West from China and imposing sanctions on Iran.

“He’s a deal-maker,” Kasinas mentioned throughout the course of a panel dialogue at the summit. “I think we should sit down, calm down, and if he wins — find a deal.”

With Biden in turmoil in the US election after a poor debate performance and struggling to prove he is capable of serving another four years, European officials need to maintain a delicate balance . While they publicly insist that they will work with whoever wins the November elections, they do not want to put pressure on American politics by saying that they are concerned about Trump or a second Trump presidency. They are angering Biden by openly preparing for this.

Trump has caused concern by praising Russian President Vladimir Putin, even calling his invasion of Ukraine “genius”, and condemning NATO, a mutual-defense treaty signed in 1949. When the West faced the Soviet Union in the Cold War.

US presidents and lawmakers, including Biden, have warned Europe for decades that it must do more to share NATO’s financial and military responsibilities, particularly as European military spending declined after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

But Trump has warned more often and more loudly — and during the current campaign he has threatened to invite Russia to attack NATO allies that are not spending enough on their militaries.

“I just want them to pay their bills. We’re defending Europe. They take advantage of us very badly,” he told Fox News Radio last hour as Biden and NATO leaders gathered in Washington. He said that the EU is spending on defence. , if truth be told, up sharply.

Former diplomats say that even though Hungary’s leader Viktor Orban, who later met Trump at Mar-a-Lago at a NATO summit, was not as brazen as he was, ECU officials worked to build ties with the Trump camp. Was doing.

To some extent, ECU officials visit factories in American towns and cities that manufacture the guns their countries are purchasing or mention them in their talks, emphasizing their contribution to the American financial system.

Siewiera, a Polish security official, describes Trump’s first term as prosperous for Poland. As this was about to happen, his government began investing heavily in American arms, including HIMARS rocket-launcher systems, Patriot air defense systems, F-35 fighter jets and Abrams tanks.

“President Trump was right when he insulted us,” Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said Friday at a meeting at a Washington think-tank. “So give credit where credit is due. partially.”

Ultimately, said Daniel Fried, the former U.S. ambassador to Poland who is now at the Atlantic Council Research Center, Trump “likes to be a winner.”

Fried said, “If Trump claims credit and thus continues American support for NATO because he saved it, that’s a story I would encourage Europeans to accept.”