Trump's demands for NATO: "I just want loyalty"

TT

Published 19.50

 

US President Donald Trump. Archive photo. Photo: Jacquelyn Martin /AP/TT

For Secretary General Mark Rutte, there is no shortage of challenges ahead of the NATO summit in Turkey next week.

After demanding higher defense budgets from other member states, US President Donald Trump is now demanding "loyalty" from his allies - otherwise he is once again threatening to leave the alliance.

Trump has long criticized European NATO countries for not paying enough for their own defense. That issue was largely resolved during last year's summit in the Netherlands, when the members agreed to increase their defense budgets.

Now, however, the big challenge remains to put the money into practice. The goal is to quickly strengthen the alliance's military capabilities in order to meet the growing threat from Russia. But for Trump, money is no longer the main issue.

Iran War

Keeping the US in NATO has been a difficult task for both Mark Rutte and his predecessor Jens Stoltenberg. Already during Trump's first term in office, he threatened to leave the alliance. During the current term of office, the challenges have deepened. Last winter, NATO countries were shaken when Trump threatened to take over Greenland from Denmark.

The latest and biggest rift concerns the war against Iran that the US and Israel launched in February this year.

Trump is deeply dissatisfied with the fact that several European NATO countries – including Spain, Germany, Britain and France – have refused to provide the US with sufficient military support, according to his interpretation.

– We don't need their money – we don't need anything. I just want loyalty, Trump said at a meeting with Rutte at the White House in late June.

Praised Erdogan

Trump's frustration has gone so far that he has considered not attending the summit in Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday.

According to the AP news agency, the American president's respect for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the only reason he chooses to attend at all. During the meeting with Rutte, Trump harshly criticized the majority of European countries, but at the same time praised Erdogan as an "outstanding leader and a good friend".

Trump claimed, among other things, that Turkey could have entered the war on the side of Iran because of the country's cold relationship with Israel, but that Erdogan respected the US's refusal to do so.

For Mark Rutte, Turkey has become a playing card to keep Donald Trump at the negotiating table.