NATO Bows To Trump

Not only leaders of countries around the world but also NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is preparing to work together with the Trump administration in January.

Stoltenberg, himself a former Norwegian prime minister, is one of the many world leaders who has phoned President-elect Donald Trump. Stoltenberg congratulated Trump Nov. 18 for his election victory for a second time (but the first time personally) and looked forward to working with him and his national security team. According to NATO, they both underlined NATO's enduring importance and discussed how the alliance is adapting to the new security environment, including countering terrorism.

Despite having said during the election campaign that defense spending had been on the top of his agenda and that NATO members had decided to raise it two years ago, Stoltenberg thanked Trump for raising the issue during the campaign. NATO reported that the two leaders agreed that there had been progress on fairer burden-sharing but that there is more to do.

Stoltenberg repeated that he was looking forward to welcoming Trump to Brussels for the summit of NATO leaders in Brussels next year. Whereas the summit was planned to take place as quickly as possible if Hillary Clinton had won the election, the timing is not clear now that Trump is becoming president. This might put the EU, which extended its invitation for a summit as soon as possible, in the curious position of meeting with Trump before NATO.

Antonio Missiroli, Director of the EU Institute for Security Studies, told a conference on the future of EU-NATO cooperation in Brussels Nov. 21 that uncertainty about Trump's policy towards Europe would result in instability at the beginning of 2017, requiring adjustment not only by the Europeans but also by the Americans.

Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski concluded his speech at the same conference with a Kennedyesque quote: "We should not ask what America can do for us any longer, but rather ask ourselves what we can do to help America remain our partner in security and defense for the turbulent times ahead."