Fortune: Donald Trump Says NATO Is Costing the U.S. Too Much Money
He’s the first mainstream candidate to ever suggest the U.S. withdraw from the alliance.
Donald Trump added another twist to his already unconventional campaign for the presidency on Monday: he became the first mainstream candidate to ever suggest that the United States withdraw from NATO. His rationale? It costs the U.S. too much money.
In an interview with The Washington Post, the Republican frontrunner chided the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO for its expense. He said the U.S. might need to reduce its involvement in NATO in coming years, a move that would flout Washington’s long-standing support for the 28-member military alliance. “We certainly can’t afford to do this anymore,” Trump said. “NATO is costing us a fortune, and yes, we’re protecting Europe with NATO, but we’re spending a lot of money.”
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Update #1: Trump says U.S. should spend less on NATO -- Reuters
Update #2: Donald Trump questions US role in Nato -- Financial Times
WNU Editor: Such a discussion is long overdue. Not surprising .... the military/foreign establishment is freaking out .... both in the U.S. and outside.
6 comments:
Wouldn't our adversaries just love for the military alliance to self dissolve by the hand of this crackpot and other superficial thinking shoot from the hip, greenhorns. Now is not the world for such immature thinking. Unless as I said, you want our enemies to gain from the further destabilization of the global order, or what is left of it.
Or europe starts pulling its weight and ups its defence expenditure .
Critics of NATO should acknowledge that this keystone dominance in European defense affords the US some considerable political leverage on the continent whose union is the US' second largest trading partner. It has proven as effective in keeping out Russian tanks as the Ruble.
The US has ensured a stable Europe since NATO was formed, at the request of European powers, and this NATO presence keeps out competing powers in more than just the contingent of war.
Does the US get enough political leverage to justify the $$$? I don't know,I just think it should be acknowledged that the US gains quite a lot from the money spent.
Not to mention bases from UK to Turkey...
With $19 trillion in debt, and counting, a $600 billion+ military budget, and a lot of people without decent paying work or medical care, yes, maybe it's time to talk about things.
Thank you! I was about to say this exact statement.
While the US likely has gained some in the past from the NATO "alliance." the costs are enormous and it does seem the agreement despirately needs to be renegotiated. I've been saying this since at least 1996. I'm pleased to see someone finally catching on.
Mr. Trump is NOT my first choice but the more I see and hear him the more I like him and the more I see and hear Mr. Cruz (my first choice) go head to head with Mr. Trump the less I like Mr. Cruz and the more I like Mr. Trump. Will it be enough to change my opinion. Probably not but Mr. trump is spot on with regards to this issue. I would think such a move to renegotiate this alliance should help our beleaguered armed forces both in their ability to actually defend America and in terms of morale.
NATO is supposed to be an agreement between soverign nation states for collective defense. I doubt when the US entered into this it expected to be pulling this much of the weight. Furthermore the nations of Western Europe and former Eastern Bloc nations who are currently members of NATO have interests that are in many ways incompatible with American interests. As such, it makes little sense from America's perspective to continue the agreement as it currently is.
I've long thought renegotiating NATO would be a good thing for the deal maker to pursue should he be elected. I'm pleased to see he appears to at least be thinking along these lines.
Btw, the "crackpot" and "superficial" thinking on this is that which came from Ted Cruz with his kneejerk response of we need to stand will "allies" or something to this effect. The notion that these are allies is questionable at best. In contrast, Mr. Trump's thinking on this is truly thoughtful and reasoned.
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