The NATO alliance, as the core strength of the organization, faces huge risks. 75th Anniversary Summit This week it will be held in Washington.
Special attention is paid to US President Biden extensive attention There were questions about the impact of his age and mental health on the presidential campaign, following his poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June.
Former NATO deputy secretary-general Rose Gottemoeller emphasized this during a discussion with CNBC’s Capital Connection on Tuesday.
“I think this NATO summit in Washington is an important moment for Joe Biden and he really has to show that he supports this and that he’s ready to continue to lead the United States of America and the NATO alliance,” she told CNBC’s Dan. Murphy. “So we’ll see in the coming days how well the President of the United States performs.”
Asked whether the summit was a make-or-break event for the transatlantic alliance, Gottmoeller responded: “I think this is an extremely important summit for the NATO alliance; I wouldn’t say it’s a make-or-break event. Act of.
US President Biden attended the US-Nordic Leaders Summit at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland on July 13, 2023. and will end its European tour in Finland on July 13, 2023.
Andrew Caballero Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
The coalition’s main focus right now is supporting Ukraine’s war with Russia, an effort that many in the group fear could be in jeopardy if Trump wins the U.S. presidency in November.
The United States provides most of the financial and military support to Kiev, and Trump has threatened for years to withdraw from the alliance if he returned to the White House. He also expressed opposition to continued military aid to Ukraine.
“I’m not predicting a Trump victory in November; nevertheless, I think Donald Trump will put tremendous pressure on the alliance, just as I did during his first term as NATO deputy secretary-general. That’s what we’re facing,” Gottmoeller said. “He relentlessly urged NATO allies to increase defense spending.”
Trump often threatens members that fail to meet NATO requirements to spend 2% or more of their national budgets on defense. he said at a campaign rally in February He would let Russian President Vladimir Putin attack member states They didn’t spend enough on defense.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (CR) speaks during a meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group at NATO Headquarters, with Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov (right), NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (L) and Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. (CL), Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, during a meeting in Brussels, Belgium, June 13, 2024 Listen in during the first of a two-day meeting of defense ministers.
Omar Havana | Getty Images
But Gottmoeller said that if Trump wins a second term, he will “see a very different NATO.” “I think he was instrumental in driving momentum to get NATO to spend more on its own defense,” she said. But she stressed that members had stepped up significantly in the face of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Gottmoller said that during the Trump administration, fewer than 10 member states spent 2% or more of their GDP on defense, while that number has risen to 23 of the alliance’s 32 current members. .
Gottmoeller, who now teaches at Stanford University, expressed doubts that Trump would actually withdraw from NATO, despite threats he made on the campaign trail. Still, if he wins, “it will be very, very important for NATO allies to keep a close eye on Trump and what he wants to achieve,” the former diplomat said.
She said that if Trump returns to the White House, the “core requirement” will be for NATO allies to spend more than 2%. “We heard this when he first took office and I think we’ll hear it again.”
Gottmoeller served as NATO deputy secretary-general from 2016 to 2019 and served as director of Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council in the early 1990s. She later served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security at the State Department.
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