President-elect Trump believes “NATO is very important” and he plans to maintain the U.S. military’s defense of Europe, according to an interview with European media.
“[C]ountries aren’t paying their fair share so we’re supposed to protect countries but a lot of these countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to be paying, which I think is very unfair to the United States,” Trump told the Sunday Times, a British publication. “With that being said, NATO is very important to me.”
Trump brought up the topic of NATO when asked if he understands why eastern Europeans fear Russian aggression. “Sure. Oh sure, I know that. I mean, I understand what’s going on,” he said. He also reiterated his earlier criticisms of NATO while taking credit for the creation of “a whole division devoted now to terror” — an apparent reference to the recently-established Joint Intelligence and Security Division at NATO.
“I said a long time ago … NATO had problems,” he said. “Number one it was obsolete, because it was, you know, designed many, many years ago. Number two — the countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to pay. I took such heat, when I said NATO was obsolete. It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right — and now — it was on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, they have a whole division devoted now to terror, which is good.”
Trump’s criticism of NATO garnered more attention than his conclusion that the alliance is important. “We Europeans have our fate in our own hands,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in response to the interview.
But Trump also was asked if he was committed to defending Europe. “Yeah, I feel very strongly toward Europe — very strongly toward Europe, yes,” he told the Sunday Times.
