The Guardian / UK: Donald Trump is more likely to keep America committed to Nato if more European countries follow the UK’s lead and increase their defence spending, Nato’s secretary general has said after talks with the British prime minister, Theresa May.
With Trump casting doubt on the value of Nato during the presidential election campaign, the secretary general of the transatlantic defence organisation, Jens Stoltenberg, called on countries to hand over more cash to secure the “transatlantic bond”.
Trump, who has promised to strengthen relations with Russia, also suggested the US might not come to the aid of an ally that did not meet the spending target of defence expenditure at 2% of GDP.
May, who backs calls for European nations to spend more, insisted the UK would remain a “cornerstone” of Nato.
In his talks with May, Stoltenberg praised the British for reaching the 2% target, saying: “By doing so you lead by example. It’s good to see that other allies are now following you and they are starting to increase defence spending.
“They still have a long way to go but are starting to move in the right direction. More defence spending in Europe is important for the transatlantic bond, for fair burden-sharing between Europe and the United States.”
May said Nato needed to focus on recognising “new threats as they emerge” and in particular cyber capabilities.
Britain is one of just four European members of Nato to hit the agreed Nato spending target. The others are Poland, Estonia and Greece.
Stoltenberg has tried to lower the temperature surrounding Trump’s interventions by saying it has been the position of successive American presidents, and almost almost all US politicians, that European countries need to do more to contribute to their own defence.
He has claimed calls to reverse cuts have been heeded and spending is slowly starting to rise.
Stoltenberg has calculated that if all Nato countries met the 2% target $100bn (£80bn) would be raised, equivalent to the combined budgets of the largest defence spenders in Europe: the UK and France.
But Stoltenberg will also be concerned by the impact of Brexit on European defence thinking. The high probability of the UK’s departure from the EU has given added impetus to European politicians calling for stronger EU defences.
After Brexit, non-EU allies will account for 80% of Nato’s defence spending. Three of the four Nato battlegroups to be deployed in Poland and the Baltic states will be led by non-EU allies.
Stoltenberg argues the imbalance means European countries cannot afford to be decoupled from non-EU Nato allies. But he says he is not opposed to greater EU defence cooperation, so long as there is no attempt to duplicate Nato assets or command structures.
The UK defence secretary, Michael Fallon, has also said the UK will try to halt any EU defence cooperation that undermines Nato, but at the same time in an interview with Le Monde this week stressed the need to continue Anglo-French cooperation, and allow sensible EU-wide defence initiatives.
May said after the talks: “I think as we look in the face of Russian aggression, of course here in the UK we are committed to our 2% of GDP being spent on defence, we are contributing troops to defence of eastern Europe with the Nato operations and our commitment is significant in all of these issues and we’ve agreed to maintain our nuclear deterrent.”
