Trump and NATO

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CTV News Interview with Bureau Chief Joyce Napier

Donald Trump glides effortlessly from mercantilism on trade to reciprocity in collective security ie we will trade with you as long as we make a profit and we will defend you as long as you pay your fair share (with that share to be determined by Mr. Trump).

It is true the Alliance has had a free ride on the back of US security, especially since the Cold War and that especially since 9-11 the USA under Bush and Obama, has puuhed the Allies to do more. Jeff Goldberg writes in his Atlantic article on the Obama doctrine that President Obama told UK PM David Cameron that the special relationship depended on UK spending more on defence. Cameron spent more. President Obama had same message for  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau – in his June speech to Parliament he said 3X that NATO needs more Canada.

What Mr. Trump said on defence is brutal and unsophisticated and would destroy the Alliance,  it will be the same message ie USA expects more from the Allie –  that Hillary Clinton will deliver to the Alliance as well.  Bob Gates said it best in his farewell remarks tto NATO as Defence Secretary: “The blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetite and patience in the U.S. Congress, and in the American body politic writ large, to expend increasingly precious funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to devote the necessary resources … to be serious and capable partners in their own defense.”

http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=916172

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