President Trump repeatedly reaffirmed the U.S.’s commitment to NATO during phone calls with foreign leaders of fellow NATO-member countries on Saturday, making a stark contrast from past criticisms Trump has slung at the “obsolete” international alliance as a presidential candidate and more recently as president-elect.
When President Trump spoke over the phone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday, the two agreed that NATO is of “fundamental importance” the White House said in a statement.
“The President and Chancellor also agreed on the NATO Alliance’s fundamental importance to the broader transatlantic relationship and its role in ensuring the peace and stability of our North Atlantic community,” the White House said in a statement. “In this vein, the leaders recognized that NATO must be capable of confronting 21st century threats and that our common defense requires appropriate investment in military capabilities to ensure all Allies are contributing their fair share to our collective security.”
Trump later spoke with French President Francois Hollande.
“The leaders discussed our military and defense cooperation both bilaterally and through NATO,” the White House said in a statement after the call. “President Trump reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to NATO and noted the importance of all NATO Allies sharing the burden on defense spending.”
Trump spent much of the presidential campaign questioning the U.S.’s role in NATO, saying that the U.S. was contributing an unfair amount of money compared to other member nations.
As recently as earlier this month, days before his inauguration, Trump told a German newspaper that NATO is “obsolete” because it was formed decades ago and no longer acclimates well to the current state of international affairs. He also reiterated concerns about other member nations “aren’t paying what they should.”
However there are recent signs that Trump may back off his concerns about NATO. After becoming Trump’s defense secretary, Jim Mattis, reaffirmed U.S.’s “unshakable” support for NATO. In what could be a sign of further softening on past harsh campaign rhetoric, Trump said this week Mattis’ disapproval of torture overrides his past stated support for it.
Though Trump didn’t discuss NATO in a joint-press conference Friday with United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May, the British leader did express both countries’ support for the alliance.
“On defense and security cooperation, we are united in our recognition of NATO as the bulwark of our collective defense,” May said in her opening remarks. “Today we’ve reaffirmed our unshakable commitment to this alliance – Mr. President I think you confirmed that you are 100 percent behind NATO.”
With both Merkel and Hollande, Trump assured that the U.S. will continue the international effort to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.
Trump accepted the Merkel’s invitation to attend the G-20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, in July, the White House said.
Trump also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday in a phone call in which two discussed a joint effort to fight international terrorism. A statement from the Kremlin made no mention of the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Russia, but did indicate the two leaders discussed repairing trade and economic ties between their two countries.
