From the Telegraph:

Nato members are scrambling to honour their defence spending target in time for a crunch July summit taking place just days before Donald Trump’s expected coronation as Republican candidate for president.

Westminster sources told The Telegraph that European members need to arrive at Nato’s 75th Anniversary summit in Washington DC with a commitment to spend 2 per cent of GDP on defence.

The summit will take place 9-11 July, the week before the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Mr Trump is expected to be selected as the party’s nominee for president.

A senior Whitehall security source said: “If we all rock up in Washington for the Nato summit with half of Europe still not paying 2 per cent of GDP… that would be an own goal.”

Nigel Farage, a confidante of Mr Trump, said he believed he would not try to withdraw the US from Nato if re-elected, but that Britain and other members had to bolster their militaries to ensure “America’s commitment”….

The Telegraph can reveal that a concerted effort is underway in London and across other Nato capitals to “Trump-proof” the alliance.

One diplomat said: “There is a lot of talk about Trump contingency planning… on how to make sure a US president is invested in the security of the transatlantic area.”

In the UK, the Whitehall security source said the Nato July summit was seen as a key date because it was taking place “a week before the Republican National Convention” when “big, febrile politics” would be at play.

The source said the UK was pursuing “two lines of activity” in response to the potential return of Mr Trump. The first track involved “diplomacy around everybody in Nato other than the US, to say ‘hey guys, we really need to turn up to Washington with our s--t together’.”…

Another senior government source agreed that getting all Nato states to commit to 2 per cent was critical. “Everyone needs to have two in front of their figure,” the source said.

Mr Farage told The Telegraph that Mr Trump’s recent comments were part of an ongoing negotiation with Europe to drive up defence spending.

“Read The Art of the Deal,” Mr Farage said. “Ask for the Earth, threaten the person you’re doing a deal with and accept a compromise.”

The former UKIP leader said he did not think Mr Trump would withdraw from Nato. “There is clearly within America now a debate within the Republican movement – and within parts of the Democrat movement – that does have shades of ‘why the hell should we be relied upon the whole time?’





[Post edited by JMHoo at 02/19/2024 12:37PM]