Will Donald Trump slam the door on NATO? The diplomat Jacques Pitteloud, permanent representative of Switzerland to the alliance in Brussels since September, assures us that no. The next American president will instead push the Europeans to do more for their defense, something his predecessors have already demanded.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House raises fears of a withdrawal of the United States. The future 47th American president displays a certain hostility towards the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He even threatened, during his campaign, to withdraw his country from the military alliance. Europe would then be alone in charge of its own security.
A scenario that Jacques Pitteloud sweeps away on Friday in La Matinale. The diplomat, whose five years as ambassador to Washington ended this summer, says that “Donald Trump is not about to implode the Atlantic alliance.”
>> Also read: Jacques Pitteloud: “Once again, the United States is faced with a crisis of fever and polarization”
Europeans urged to do more
For Valais, the Republican intends to push European countries to get more involved. “It will force a certain number of countries to keep their commitments, which in fact date from the creation of the alliance: to invest 2% of gross domestic product in defense.”
And even: Donald Trump is actually following in the footsteps of his predecessors. “All American presidents since the end of the Cold War, including Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, have insisted and told — perhaps a little more politely — NATO members that they must stand their ground. their commitments”, recalls Jacques Pitteloud.
A presidential opinion that many Americans share. The ambassador quotes the words of one of his friends, a Democrat, who said: “We find it difficult to understand why 300 million Americans should defend 550 million Europeans against 140 million Russians.”
>> Also read: What to expect for US international policy after Trump’s return?
A change of direction on the Old Continent
Europe, for its part, has been rearming itself since the start of the war in Ukraine, in red vigilance against the Kremlin. The diplomat even speaks of a “brutal awakening” of his war materials industry.
“European military budgets are increasing spectacularly. Many NATO members are now reaching the fateful limit of 2%,” underlines Jacques Pitteloud.
“Europe is realizing that it may not always be able to count on the American umbrella and that whatever administration is in power in Washington, we cannot exclude that its attention will be focused above all on the Pacific, where a large game of geostrategic chess is also played out,” he analyzes.
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The United States remains at the top of the pyramid
Still, Europe is not yet on an equal footing with its powerful ally across the Atlantic. “The American nuclear umbrella is unique, it is not comparable to the French or British nuclear umbrella,” he says.
“The investments of the whole of Europe in defense research amount to around 10 billion euros per year for the moment. And those of the United States are around ten times more,” he points out. -he also.
The Old Continent, even if it flexes its muscles, will therefore still have to rely on the United States. “The security of Europe without the Americans is an illusion,” believes Jacques Pitteloud.
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Web text: Antoine Michel
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