Blitz Bureau
US President Donald Trump on July 7 accused several North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) allies of refusing to support the United States during its military operation against Iran, saying the episode had reinforced his longstanding concerns about burden-sharing within the transatlantic alliance.
Speaking before his bilateral meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said he had been disappointed by the response from several European allies despite Washington’s decades-long investment in their collective defence. “Well, we’ll see. I was very disappointed with NATO,” Trump said when asked about the alliance and the possibility of further US troop drawdowns in Europe.
Trump said, “We weren’t treated well because we did something in Iran– We don’t need anybody’s help. I didn’t even want their help, but before I asked, they said they wouldn’t be there.”
“We’ve invested trillions of dollars in NATO. Why? To protect European countries and others, Canada, etc- – and I say that’s fine, but you would think that they’d be very willing to do something to help us and they really weren’t.”
Trump specifically referred to the United Kingdom, saying its response had fallen short of Washington’s expectations. Trump has repeatedly pressed NATO members to increase defence spending and assume greater responsibility for Europe’s security. Burdensharing has been a defining issue in his approach to the alliance during both of his presidencies.
