The leaders of NATO member countries have kicked off a summit meeting in Washington at a time when former US President Donald Trump is trying to win back control of the White House. People in and out of NATO are wondering what it will mean for the alliance if he succeeds.
Trump has been urging NATO allies to spend more on defense. He has even suggested the United States will not protect members who do not spend enough.
In his 2024 campaign, he says he began fundamentally revaluating NATO’s purpose and mission under his administration, claiming that the greatest threat to Western civilization today is not Russia.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO members have been spending more on national defense.
Twenty-three of the 32 states are expected to achieve the group’s target of raising their defense budgets to 2 percent of their gross domestic product this year.
But Germany’s ambassador to the US during the Trump administration says Trump may still bring up the issue.
Emily Haber says it’s a challenge being put under the spotlight amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Germany was named by Trump as a member that is not spending enough on defense. The country is now stressing its contribution to NATO. In May, Germany held a large-scale drill in NATO state Lithuania that apparently assumed Russia as the potential enemy.
Germany has also decided to station troops in Lithuania full-scale from next year, aiming to eventually have around 5,000 forces there. They will be the first German troops stationed outside their country’s borders since the end of World War Two.
But Gordon Sondland, who served as US ambassador to the European Union under the Trump administration, says if Trump is reelected, he will likely demand more.
Sondland says Trump wants European allies to create their own military resources so the US can concentrate on China, North Korea and Iran.