Donald Trump repeats one of his favorite refrains. The president-elect declared on Tuesday January 7 that NATO countries must increase their defense budgets to 5% of GDP, after having already repeatedly repeated that members of the Alliance were not doing enough to ensure their protection .
“They can all afford it, said the Republican billionaire, who will take office on January 20 at the White House. They should be 5%, not 2%. We have something called an ocean between us, don't we? Why are we paying billions and billions of dollars more than Europe? »
Read alsoTrump threatens NATO with US departure from organization
The former and future American president has never made a secret of the little regard he has for the Atlantic Alliance, a pillar of security in Europe since the Second World War. It repeatedly repeats that its members do not pay enough in exchange for protection from the United States. He even sowed panic during the electoral campaign by threatening to no longer guarantee the protection of NATO countries against Russia if they did not devote a sufficient budget to their defense.
Contributions “up to 4% of GDP”
This position is far from completely isolated. The head of the Atlantic Alliance, Mark Rutte, himself warned last month that Europe must spend “much more” to ensure its defense. “It’s time to shift to a wartime mindset”he insisted in mid-December in his first speech since taking office in October.
The defense industry in Europe is “ too small, too slow and too fragmented », He justified, calling on States, industrialists, but also public opinion to take action. NATO countries spend much less » for their defense than they did during the Cold War, when they devoted more than 3% of their GDP to it.
“I decided today not to mention any new figures. We need more time to consult with Allies on what the new threshold might be.”he indicated during the debate which followed his speech. It should be “ considerably above 2%. And if we spend more without spending better, we will have to go at least up to 4% “, he stressed, adding that, to avoid such an amount, it would be necessary “inward” et “buy together”.
23 countries kept their commitments
NATO countries pledged ten years ago, after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula, to devote at least 2% of their GDP to military spending. 23 out of 32 have kept this commitment. Donald Trump also argued on Tuesday that Democratic President Joe Biden had decided that Ukraine should be able to join NATO, suggesting that this supposed position had contributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
« At one point, Biden said 'they should be able to join NATO.' Well, Russia had someone on their doorstep. I can understand (Russian) feelings about this.”he estimated. In fact, member countries had promised as early as 2008 that Ukraine would one day become a member of the Alliance. But the United States and Germany are reluctant to go beyond this promise for fear that the Alliance will be drawn into a war against Russia.
The president-elect has vowed to push for a quick deal to end the war in Ukraine, raising concerns about the future of U.S. military aid to kyiv. The conflict “should never have been triggered”, Donald Trump said again on Tuesday, adding: “I guarantee you, if I had been president, (the) war would never have happened.”
