Trump considering major NATO policy shift

28 comments

1. President Donald Trump is considering a major change to the U.S.’ participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, according to three current and former senior U.S. officials and one congressional official. 

   Trump has discussed with aides the possibility of calibrating [America’s NATO engagement](https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/smart-facts/what-nato-what-do-trump-russia-think-about-it-n860411) in a way that favors members of the alliance that spend a set percentage of their gross domestic product on defense, the officials said.

   As part of the potential policy shift, the U.S. might not defend a fellow NATO member that is attacked if the country doesn’t meet the defense spending threshold, the officials said.

2. NATO is dead. It’s now the EU defence clause with Canzuk, Iceland, and Turkey basically.

   Yanks aren’t interested in this, they are worried about the Chinese.

3. So I suppose Poland is safe then? As someone with close friends in Poland, including in the Polish government, I need all the good news I can find.

4. The pivot being that he will actually engang in NATO (albeit under certain conditions) as everybody was expecting a complete withdrawal, I guess.

5. [removed]

6. He is not considering it. He has already started to execute it

7. confusing

   so the USA would for example protect Estonia but not Canada? If this is just about %

8. I think NATO should announce a major policy shift too.

   It should expel member states whose governments are agents of Russia.

9. Trumps words literally arent worth the paper theyre written on. Even if he says he will defend countries i wouldnt wanna bet on it. If anything he will actively sabotage allies if he doesnt get what he wants.

10. [removed]

11. Silly and ineffectual. Every NATO member under threat exceeds the threshold. US intervention is not mandated by the NATO treaty. And noone believes it would intervene.

    Trump killed NATO, as everyone said he would

12. This is not a bad idea provided the threshold is reasonable, so between 2.5% and 3.5%, and EU countries are allowed to diversify or get autonomous systems from the US to prevent a rug pull scam.

    Woule get NATO eastern flank the protection they need while Western Europe would be forced to spend more.

    And all NATO members should be paying their fair share, not just the US and those next to Russia.

13. War is coming Canada. Increase the pay, and retention bonuses for the CAF immediately and prepare for war. We can’t win but we can be strong enough to make them not start a shooting war if we start yesterday. But they are coming. Stop fooling ourselves.

14. Pretty sure he needs congressional approval to fully withdraw from NATO.

    There is a future however where this is good for Europe, Trumps tariffs are going to hurt the American economy probably more than anyone else’s, Trump somehow pulls out of Europe and with the EU increasing their spending its not out impossible that a new united Europe could emerge as a real global super power.

    Also means we get JEDI – Joint European Defence Initiative.

15. Serious question why should any sovereign country promise to defend any other country who also doesn’t pay the proper amount for their defense. All the countries under threat from Russia are at the minimum requirement anyways. All in all this incentivizes more European defense spending which is a GOOD thing

16. Good luck to the Baltics, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. This would be yet another gift to Putin.

    If I’m right and Russia invades the Baltics, Europe should treat it as an attack on the EU, potentially sparking another major war in Europe. The U.S. will try to stay out of it but will ultimately be pulled in.

    An administration claiming to prevent a world war may instead be speeding up its return.

17. I said it before. I think the US will pull out of Europe. Either because it is a deliberate long term strategy, or because Trump’s feelings were hurt because Europe continues to support Ukraine against Trump’s wishes to ally the US with Russia.

    Either way, those military resources won’t just sit around and twiddle their thumbs.

    I think the prospect of US military action in North America is increasing

18. I hope Americans understand that you can’t “unburn” bridges.. and if you did or didn’t vote for Trump, is kind of irrelevant at this stage…

19. Man who has been threatening to invade/annex a territory of a NATO cofounder is considering a major NATO policy shift?

20. Considering? I don’t believe that is the right way to state considering how fast all these policies are being pumped out.

    No discussions or methods are made to talk about it, he just simply does it. If anything these are preplanned and who benefits from this?

    Just ask who would love this policy shift and it opens up bigger can of worms to paint the picture.

21. Well, this is totally out of left field. What a massive scoop by NBC News… /s

22. The status quo in Ukraine is simply not sustainable after the departure of US support. For example, you seriously think the French Air Force will enforce a no-fly zone in Ukraine? Other than virtue signalling, donation and basic peacekeeping, it is impossible for these “good guy” countries to do more in this political climate. Far right and “bad guys” in Europe will gain more momentum, and Ukraine will lose even more in the end becaue European countries will lose more election seats to far right if European men were asked to be sent in a war zone against Russian soldiers. What average people must realise in terms of grand geopolitics, is that an unstable continental Europe is good for the elite class in US (whose naval superiority position is similar to UK in the 18th century). It’s like repeating the history of how the Roman republic (like USA) gradually displaced the post-Alexander Greek alliance (like Europe), or the sack of Constantinople by western Crusaders from Venice paving way for Ottoman to take over all the east, or all those famous European wars and subsequent partitions in the last three centuries. In all the above cases, they were very successful pincer attacks from the west, teaming up the east to crush everything in the middle. In the end, ideology is just the sugarcoat. After the sugarcoat is gone, the reality of geopolitics will soon kick in. So for both Ukraine and Europe, whether you like it or not, just prepare for the worst because history always repeats itself.

23. The US is prioritizing the focus on the CCP so it needs Europe to step up and spend more in defense. Consider it another high price of cheap goods that could’ve been sourced elsewhere coming due for payment.

24. Couldn’t have seen that one coming. There’s absolutely nothing that could have given me a prediction it was headed this way.

25. Europe should not wait on this Putin stooge and should kick him out of Nato and every other security agreement. The US is now run by a traitor to the free world, assisted by his republican enablers!

26. Nato in retrospect was to defend western Europe from a massive Russian ground invasion and to keep western Europe from starting another world war with each other. Now that Russia has been exposed as a paper tiger unable to conquer Ukraine is it wrong to rethink the alliance?

27. I mean doesn’t Congress have the decision making in regards to who we go to war with? And yea sure to all the annoying people saying shit like “in a democracy” “not in a dictatorship”etc

28. One of the most likely scenario is that NATO will gradually become obsolete because US is redirecting their military resources to the Pacific. Trump is just the loudest messenger in that plan.

Comments are closed.