Donald Trump's comments on NATO: a boost for European defense?

Former president and candidate Donald Trump has decided to venture into one of his old favorite areas, the controversy against NATO allies, an organization that he described seven years ago as “ 

obsolete 

”. By affirming that he would not protect against Russia a country which does not pay its share of military defenses.

French army soldiers take part in a NATO exercise, at the Cincu training center, in central Romania, in September 2022 (illustrative image). AFP - DANIEL MIHAILESCU

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According to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, these

imprudent declarations

only serve the interests of Vladimir Putin but they at least have the merit of putting the spotlight back on the need for European defense, writes our correspondent in Brussels,

Pierre Benazet

. And Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary-General himself, denounces comments that undermine common security and warns that any Russian aggression “

will result in a united and forceful response

”.

Take on part of the burden 

But in fact,

Donald Trump

is reviving a traditional question for decades from all American leaders, a pressing demand for European allies to shoulder their share of the burden and contribute to their own defense, especially financially. At the 2018 Brussels summit, Trump got European allies to commit to meeting the objectives of devoting 2% of their gross domestic product to military spending.

Despite the Russian invasion of Crimea, their military spending had reached its lowest level the previous year, but since then the situation has completely changed. The

war in Ukraine

has been like this: almost all allies have increased their defense budgets in a tangible way. Among the worst performers, Germany has doubled its military spending in ten years. And for the first time, the United States has been overtaken for its military spending since Poland is now on the top step of the podium with 3.9% of its GDP spent on defense.

Rise in power of European defense?

Defense Europe has begun to take shape with joint purchases and deliveries of munitions and the relaunch decided at Twenty-Seven of industrial production. Donald Trump's outdated argument, however, will perhaps be a new spur for European allies. Some remember his near-prophetic warning from 2018, when he accused Germany of letting the United States defend it and being captive to Russia for its energy.

Without real American guarantees, would NATO

members

then be able to compensate for a drop in American funding or a departure from it? Philip Golub, professor at Panthéon-Sorbonne University and expert in American international relations, announces, in the event of a Republican victory in November, a more uncertain period: “

The large European countries, and then the small ones too, must ask themselves the question of how to assume their own destiny in the event of a Trump presidency, which would put the question of NATO financing and the war in Ukraine into question. We are faced with major uncertainty one year before the American presidential election and with a Europe which is not necessarily capable of making decisions quickly in this direction

.”

“

Colossal investment effort

”

“

We would need

,” Philip Golub further declares, “

a colossal effort of investment, recruitment, in defense industries, in defense devices, and we would need the construction of a coherent European defense policy which, for once, today does not exist. Assuming that the United States actually leaves NATO, Europe will have to move in that direction, but at that point we will also see fractures within Europe, on this issue, with certain countries. not wanting to enter into a cycle of rearmament and conflict

.”

Read also: Donald Trump's comments on NATO sow doubt in Poland

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