President Donald Trump is in Brussels this week for a critical NATO summit, where he and 28 US allies will discuss threats to European security. And already, he’s ruffled some feathers.
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance between the United States, Canada, and several European countries. It was signed in 1949 in an effort to contain Soviet expansionism after World War II. The United States currently pays 22 percent of NATO’s total costs, which in 2017 amounted to just under $2 billion.
The meeting comes shortly after Trump made anti-NATO comments and sent letters to leaders of several NATO countries condemning them for not spending more money on defense. For now, all eyes are on how he interacts with those leaders — and the potential impact it could have on the US’s global relationships.
Trump somehow still doesn’t understand NATO
President Donald Trump spent time at NATO last week. He still doesn’t understand it. Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesJust a week after rattling NATO countries in Europe, President Donald Trump once again put America’s commitment to the alliance in doubt on Tuesday night.
In an interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, Trump equivocated on whether the US would come to a NATO ally’s defense if attacked, called the people from Montenegro “very aggressive,” and worried aloud that protecting Montenegro might unleash a third world war.
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President Donald Trump’s performance at the NATO summit was a boon for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesRussian President Vladimir Putin wants to divide NATO. President Donald Trump is doing that for him.
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the things Trump did when he arrived at the NATO summit this week:
Read Article >Trump blasted US allies within minutes of arriving at NATO summit
President Donald Trump said Germany was “captive” to Russia and that NATO allies needed to spend more on defense in a July 11, 2018 breakfast with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. NATOThe two-day NATO summit that began on Tuesday is off to a seriously rocky start, due to President Donald Trump.
The US president used his first event there, a bilateral breakfast with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, to lecture the alliance about its own defense spending. Trump even proceeded to say that Germany is “captive” to Russia.
Read Article >Why you should give a shit about NATO
President Donald Trump, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, and Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel arrive in May 2017 for the unveiling of NATO’s new headquarters in Brussels. Benoit Doppagne/AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump is in Brussels this week for a critical NATO summit, where he and 28 US allies will discuss threats to European security.
The meeting comes a month after Trump sent letters to leaders of several NATO countries — including Canada, Belgium, Germany, and Norway — condemning them for not paying their fair share of defense spending.
Read Article >How Trump could blow up the NATO summit
President Donald Trump meeting with NATO leaders in May 2017. Stefan Rousseau (Pool)/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump’s upcoming NATO summit in Brussels isn’t supposed to be this interesting — or frightening.
In normal years, the biennial meetings of the leaders of the military alliance’s 29 member countries are mind-numbingly boring, filled with hours-long meetings on sexy topics such as “readiness initiatives” and “command structure reform.”
Read Article >Trump said “NATO is as bad as NAFTA.” That’s scary.
President Donald Trump is just not a fan of NATO. Stefan Rousseau - Pool/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump doesn’t like NATO — and he doesn’t seem to care who knows it.
During this month’s gathering of the Group of Seven — the seven countries with the largest economies in the world — Trump reportedly railed against prominent US allies. In particular, he criticized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) — a decades-long military alliance between the US, Canada, and European nations.
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