Republican front-runner Donald Trump said Saturday that as president he has warned NATO allies that he would encourage Russia to do whatever they want to delinquent countries, as he stepped up his attacks on foreign aid and long-standing international alliances.
At a rally in Conway, South Carolina, Trump told a story he had previously told about an unidentified NATO member who confronted him about his threat to expel members who fail to defend the transatlantic alliance’s defense spending goals , not defensible.
But this time, Trump went further, saying he told the member that in that case he would essentially encourage Russia to do what it wants.
You haven’t paid? Are you a delinquent?’ Trump said the saying. No, I wouldn’t protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever they want. You have to pay. You have to pay your bills.’
NATO allies agreed in 2014, after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula, to end post-Cold War austerity and spend 2 percent of their GDP on defense by 2024.
Trump’s comments come as Ukraine remains mired in its efforts to avert Russia’s 2022 invasion and as Republicans in Congress have grown increasingly skeptical about providing additional aid money to the country, which is struggling with stalled counteroffensives and weapons shortages .
They also come as Trump and his team grow increasingly confident he will secure the nomination in coming weeks, following impressive early-vote victories in the 2024 Republican nomination calendar.
Earlier Saturday, Trump called for an end to no-strings attached foreign aid, arguing that the U.S. should drastically limit the way it provides money.
From this point on, you listen to the US Senate (?), no money in the form of foreign aid should be given to any country unless it is done as a loan, not just a giveaway,” Trump wrote on his social media network in capital letters.
Trump went on to say that the money can be lent on extremely good terms, with no interest and no date for repayment. But he said that if the country we are helping ever turns against us, or becomes rich at some point in the future, the loan will be paid off and the money will be sent back to the United States.
During his 2016 campaign, Trump alarmed Western allies by warning that the United States, under his leadership, could abandon its NATO treaty obligations and only defend countries that meet the alliance’s guidelines by committing 2 percent of their gross domestic product on military activities. expenditure.
As president, Trump ultimately endorsed NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause, which states that an armed attack against one or more of its members must be considered an attack against all members. But he often portrayed NATO allies as leeches for the U.S. military and openly questioned the value of the military alliance that has defined U.S. foreign policy for decades.
As of 2022, NATO reported that seven of the now 31 NATO member states met this obligation, up from three in 2014. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has led to additional military spending by some NATO members.
Trump has often tried to take credit for that increase, boasting again on Saturday that hundreds of billions of dollars have flowed into NATO as a result of his threats, even though countries do not pay NATO directly.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
First print: February 11, 2024 | 9:13 am IST