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The Washington Post

For a US president who loves declaring victory, the Nato summit here Wednesday could have provided a perfect opportunity.
After a year of haranguing by President Donald Trump, Western leaders had agreed to his administration’s long-sought priorities on defence spending and counterterrorism – and were prepared to let him take the credit.
But Trump had other plans.
The US president began a remarkable day of transatlantic diplomacy by attacking Germany as “captive to Russia”, later called on Nato countries to double their previous commitment to defence spending and then effectively renounced the gathering altogether.

Bilateral Breakfast with NATO Secretary General in Brussels, Belgium... pic.twitter.com/l0EP3lzhCM
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2018

“He could declare victory … and ride off in a blaze of glory as leader of the West,” said Alexander Vershbow, a former US ambassador to Nato and to Russia who met with officials on the sidelines of Wednesday’s summit. “But he’s rubbing salt in the wounds.”
Trump takes aim at Nato and Germany as Brussels summit starts
Behind closed doors, Trump was cordial and even magnanimous at times with his European counterparts, according to officials who interacted with him. And at dinner, where the leaders mingled as an acrobatic dancer performed by floating in the air, Trump said it was “a very good day at Nato.”
Publicly, however, Trump bristled and bickered, interrupted and impeded – making clear to the world he is impatient and annoyed with an alliance that he says takes advantage of the United States.
“Everything in the room was fine,” Dalia Grybauskaite, the president of Lithuania, said in an interview. But outside the room, she said, Trump was less productive with his “outspoken rhetoric.”
During a closed-door working session of all the leaders, Trump was relatively reserved, according to attendees. He repeated the same arguments he made earlier in public that Nato member states needed to up their defence spending and that Germany was too dependent on Russia for natural gas. But he also stressed the common security threats all Nato allies face, according to a senior diplomat who was in the meeting.
“This is Trump’s strategy,” said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to candidly recount the private meeting. “He raises the stakes, then he calms things down.”
The rapid erosion of trust in Donald Trump, I’ve never seen anything like it for any of our post-World War II presidents
Nicholas Burns, a former US ambassador to Nato
Trump began the day at the Brussels residence of the US ambassador to the European Union, where the president stayed the night, and hosted Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. This was to be a perfunctory breakfast, but once reporters and cameramen were ushered into the room – “the legitimate media and the fake-news media,” as the president referred to the journalists – Trump exchanged more than typical diplomatic pleasantries with Stoltenberg.
“Many countries owe us a tremendous amount of money for many years back, where they’re delinquent as far as I’m concerned,” Trump said. He added, “This has gone on for many presidents, but no other president brought it up like I bring it up.”
As Stoltenberg explained that many European countries as well as Canada had actually increased defence spending in the past year, Trump interrupted him.
“Why was that last year?” he asked.

What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy? Why are there only 5 out of 29 countries that have met their commitment? The U.S. is paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2018

Stoltenberg, appearing rattled, replied with fealty and praise: “Because of your leadership.”
Trump then tore into Germany, whose leader, Chancellor Angela Merkel, is one of the most tenured Nato leaders and considered a consensus-builder in Europe. A cerebral physicist, she was especially close to former president Barack Obama.
“I think it’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where you’re supposed to be guarding against Russia,” Trump said, referring to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. “So you tell me, is that appropriate? I mean, I’ve been complaining about this from the time I got in. It should have never been allowed to have happened. But Germany is totally controlled by Russia.”
As Trump unspooled his case against Merkel, his own aides looked stricken and stone-faced. Trump’s broadside set the tone for a summit that the Europeans feared could be contentious and perhaps even disastrous – especially after they watched him refuse to sign onto an agreement at the Group of Seven summit in Canada last month and railed against Nato at a campaign rally last week in Montana.
“The rapid erosion of trust in Donald Trump, I’ve never seen anything like it for any of our post-World War II presidents,” said Nicholas Burns, a former US ambassador to Nato. “They’re infuriated at these persistent attacks on Nato … They all listened to the Great Falls, Montana, speech, and follow him on Twitter. There’s tremendous disappointment that an American leader would be so ungrateful and so mean-spirited.”
As European leaders arrived at the gleaming new glass-and-steel Nato headquarters here, they walked, one by one, along a royal-blue carpeted entry path, where some were questioned about Trump’s comments.
Merkel answered by pointing to her personal experience growing up in East Germany, which was controlled by the Soviet Union, and stressing unified Germany’s independence from Russia and her country’s shared values with the United States.
As the 29 leaders strolled together through the headquarters atrium – the US$1.4 billion fortress that Trump has complained about as an example of bureaucratic excess – Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron led the pack out to the sunny, tree-lined plaza where they posed for their “family photo.” Trump lingered behind them, chatting up Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
As the leaders stood at attention at their marked places on a blue carpet, smiling for the cameras, Trump fidgeted slightly and appeared bored, though he looked to the sky with interest when 25 helicopters flew overhead. He sidled up to British Prime Minister Theresa May – who is mired in a domestic political crisis and whom Trump had undermined a day earlier by praising her domestic rival, Boris Johnson – and took a photo with her, striking his signature thumb-up, wide-grin pose.
Trump has complained that such summits are largely a waste of his time, and he prefers one-on-one meetings with counterparts in which he can negotiate deals or gatherings where he is feted, such as his visits last year to China and Saudi Arabia.
White House advisers say Trump believes taking on foreign countries in multinational settings is good for him domestically, which is partly why he has so regularly accused a host of world leaders of taking advantage of the United States.
“He’s right,” Senator Lindsey Graham, said. “Every president in recent memory has pushed Nato to do more … He’s been more forceful than others, but that’s what he ran on.”
Trump arrived at Nato headquarters here Wednesday later than most leaders, and did not walk down the long path on which others strode and took questions. In the closed session, he only listened to some of the statements from the 29 allied leaders, and left soon after he demanded in his own remarks that Nato allies double their defence spending commitments to 4 per cent of their countries’ gross domestic product.
Trump’s call was striking considering the figure is not even met by the United States, which spends 3.58 per cent of its GDP, and was viewed by Nato experts as a transparent ploy rather than a serious proposal.
“He’s using hyperbole to reinforce a negotiating tactic,” said Damon Wilson, a Nato expert at the Atlantic Council think tank. “Our president is prone to seeking leverage through unusual negotiating tactics.”
Despite Trump’s public focus on Germany’s dependence on Russian gas, he barely discussed it in his private talks with Merkel, according to an official with knowledge of the meeting. When the two leaders met face-to-face on the sidelines of the summit, Merkel defended herself and Trump did not lash out at her, the official said. Rather, their conversation focused largely on immigration, trade and Syria.
“We have a very, very good relationship with the chancellor,” Trump told reporters, with Merkel at his side. “We have a tremendous relationship with Germany.”
Trump had a similarly nonconfrontational meeting with Macron, the European counterpart with whom he has the warmest relationship. They spoke largely about trade, as well as energy and other issues, according to an official with knowledge of their discussion.
But there was one clear point of disagreement between the two men. When a reporter asked Macron if he agrees with Trump that Merkel is beholden to the Russians, Trump interjected to try to cut off the conversation. “Thank you. Thank you very much,” he said.
Still, Macron gave his answer: “No.”
Despite their differences, the Nato leaders all signed onto a far-reaching declaration that any other US administration would have touted as an unqualified success.
“On substance, this is one of the most successful Nato summits I’ve seen,” said Stefano Stefanini, a former Italian ambassador to Nato.
He cited the alliance’s new training mission in Iraq and an initiative sought by Defence Secretary James Mattis to get more Nato battalions, ships and planes ready for combat, a plan known as 30-30-30.
“There’s lot of substance here,” Stefanini said.
Derek Chollet, a former Obama administration official, said the concrete progress during the meeting offered a surprising contrast to Trump’s rhetoric.
“There’s a fundamental disconnect in this administration because many of the ideas that are being agreed to are US ideas,” he said. “The 30-30-30 plan is a Mattis initiative. The Iraq training mission was a US-driven decision to have a bigger Nato presence in Iraq.”
“Everyone’s saying this is good, but Trump is saying it’s going badly because fundamentally he’s a contrarian,” he said.
Indeed, just after Trump was whisked out of Nato headquarters in his motorcade, he punched out a combative tweet that again singled out Germany and even questioned the value of the overall alliance.
Trump wrote, “What good is Nato if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy?”


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Nato

Analysis: at Nato summit, why can’t Trump just take yes for an answer?

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (left), US President Donald Trump and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (right) take part in the family photo session during Nato summit in Brussels, Belgium, on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua

epa06881392 US President Donald J. Trump (C) and First Lady Melania Trump arrive with Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel to a leaders' dinner during a NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium, 11 July 2018. NATO member countries' heads of states and governments gather in Brussels on 11 and 12 July 2018 for a two days meeting. EPA-EFE/IAN LANGSDON

epa06881343 US President Donald J. Trump (C) waves next to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) as Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (2-L) and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (R) look on during a family photo in front of the Arcades du Cinquantenaire at a NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium, 11 July 2018. NATO member countries' heads of states and governments gather in Brussels on 11 and 12 July 2018 for a two days meeting. EPA-EFE/CHRISTIAN BRUNA

Donald Trump sets tone for Europe visit in testy exchange with Nato chief, insisting ‘Germany is totally controlled by Russia’

U.S. President Donald Trump gestures as NATO leaders pose for a family photo at the start of the NATO summit in Brussels, Belgium July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Yves Herman

US President Donald Trump (R) and US First Lady Melania Trump disembark from Air Force One as they arrive at Melsbroek Air Base in Haachtsesteenweg on July 10, 2018. US President Donald Trump has arrived in Brussels on the eve of a tense NATO summit where he is set to clash with allies over defence spending. Trump arrived on Air Force One at Melsbroek military airport, shortly after saying on Twitter that NATO allies should "reimburse" the United States for spending on the alliance. / AFP PHOTO / BELGA / BENOIT DOPPAGNE / Belgium OUT

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a breakfast meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) at the NATO Summit in Brussels, Belgium, July 11, 2018. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Mattis to NATO allies: cough up the money for defence or else

epa05795119 NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (L) and US Defence Secretary James Mattis (R) talk as they line up for the family picture during the NATO Defense Ministers Council at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 15 February 2017. NATO defense ministers gathered a two-days meeting. EPA/STEPHANIE LECOCQ

US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis briefs the media during a NATO defence ministers meeting at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: Reuters

Nato and China summits give Europe a chance to assert its interests and stabilise the global order

Illustration: Craig Stephens

President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in the Oval Office of the White House, Thursday, May 17, 2018, in Washington. A year into his investigation, special counsel Robert Mueller is everywhere and nowhere at the same time. In that time, the breadth and stealth of his investigation has rattled the White House and its chief occupant, and has spread to Capitol Hill, K Street, foreign governments and, as late as last week, corporate boardrooms.(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

(180625) -- BEIJING, June 25, 2018 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R, front) meets with European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen, who is attending the 7th China-EU High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, June 25, 2018. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei) (lmm)

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In private with Nato leaders, Trump is all smiles, but in front of the cameras he can’t resist ‘rubbing salt in the wounds’


In private with Nato leaders, Trump is all smiles, but in front of the cameras he can’t resist “rubbing salt in the wounds”.


Donald Trump

Analysis: at Nato summit, why can’t Trump just take yes for an answer?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}In private with Nato leaders, Trump is all smiles, but in front of the cameras he can’t resist ‘rubbing salt in the wounds’

In private with Nato leaders, Trump is all smiles, but in front of the cameras he can’t resist ‘rubbing salt in the wounds’