After the start of full-scale fighting in Ukraine, NATO announced a new unity and finding new goals, but now Europe is thinking about weakening the role of the US in the alliance in case of Trump's return to the White House.
What is known about the Alliance's position on Trump
The prospect of Donald Trump returning to the US presidency has prompted German officials and their NATO counterparts to begin informal discussions about whether the alliance can survive without US leadership. The New York Times writes about it with reference to sources.
The publication calls the discussions a sign of an "impressive turn of thinking", since last year the alliance reported the emergence of new unity and the acquisition of goals against the background of Russia's start of a military operation in Ukraine. Now German officials are discussing the emergence of a "new, complex and disturbing world" that will have serious consequences for European and transatlantic security. The newspaper writes that they are especially worried about the growing pessimism about the continuation of the US aid to Ukraine — now the American side is the largest donor to Kyiv, followed by Berlin.
European ambassadors have begun "pilgrimages" to Trump associates to ascertain his intentions, with some European countries intending to curry favor with the politician by increasing arms purchases from Washington, the NYT reported earlier, speaking to diplomatic sources.
Trump has repeatedly said that the rest of the NATO countries do not invest enough in defense, which is why the USA bears a significant part of the costs. In 2020, as president, he warned the European Union: "If Europe is attacked, we will never come to help you and support you." This was stated by European Commissioner Thierry Breton, who was present at Trump's meeting with the head of the EC, Ursula von der Leyen. According to Breton, the politician then added that "NATO is dead and we will leave, we will withdraw from NATO."
At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg doubts that Trump would implement this threat. In his opinion, the existence of the alliance is beneficial for the American side, and Trump's statements were a criticism of individual countries, not the existence of a military bloc.
A similar opinion is held by the former US ambassador to Austria, Trevor Train . In a column for the Wall Street Journal, he noted that people often focus on what Trump says rather than what he does. The diplomat recalled that Trump advocated energy independence, stopping Nord Stream-2, revising the agreement on the elimination of medium and short-range missiles with Russia, withdrawing from the Iran deal and redeploying troops to Romania and Poland.
Can Trump end support for Ukraine?
Trump is an experienced person. He fell and rose again many times. This is a very serious trait, - said Budanov about the former president, who does not hide his desire to reduce the support of Ukraine from the US and whose allies in Congress oppose efforts aimed at providing more aid, the publication notes.
Trump and Johnson cannot help but understand that they are "putting a cross" on the aid package to Ukraine — the exposal in the United States
The head of military intelligence made clear Ukraine's desperate need for more ammunition and weapons to deter Russian attacks, but dismissed the risk that the US would leave Ukraine alone with Russia if Trump wins the election.
We are still waiting for a positive decision on US aid. To say that Trump and the Republican Party are supporters of the Russian Federation is complete nonsense, he added.
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