NATO Secretary General plays the risk of a trade war between the United States and Canada – two founding members of the western military alliance – as a dispute that could be managed.
Mark Rutte, the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, who was appointed to the top Allied political posts last autumn, spoke in Brussels together with the British Prime Minister Keir Starrer on Monday after a meeting between the two.
“I am absolutely convinced that we can deal with these topics, and there are always problems between allies,” said Rutte during a joint press conference.
“There are always problems, sometimes bigger, sometimes smaller. But I am absolutely convinced that our collective determination does not stand in the way of keeping our deterrent strong.”
General Secretary of NATO, Mark Rutte, was asked in Brussels on Monday about NATO allies – including tariff problems between Canada and the USA, as well as tense relationships between Denmark and the USA about Greenland. Rutte said it was an “silly thought” to believe that they could lead the transatlantic defense organization without the United States
For an alliance that is proud to present Russia a uniform front, have not been nice in the past few days – even in the past few weeks.
US President Donald Trump ordered the introduction of a 25 percent tariff for Canadian goods at the weekend and suggested that he would apply “economic strength” to absorb Canada as part of the union. On Monday he held the annexion rhetoric.
“Look what I would like to see is Canada, who will be our 51st state,” he said reporters in the Oval Office.
“Some people say that would be a long shot. If people wanted to play the game properly, it would be 100 percent sure that they would become a state.”
The threat from tariffs was deported 30 days on Monday when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump agreed on a number of border measures to alleviate American concerns about the river of illegal migrants and fentanyl.
Regardless of this, before his second inauguration, Trump received a wish from his first term in Annex Greenland, a frozen, half -autonomous island in the North American Arctic, which belongs to Denmark. The President recently spoke to the Danish Prime Minister and even Trump himself that the conversation went badly.
The president also threatened to impose tariffs to European countries.
Encourage of attacks on allies
When Trump ran for the office almost a year ago, Trump started a broad side against allies that did not hit the two percent of the gross domestic product of NATO Benchmark of NATO, and said that he would “encourage” Russia to attack members who would attack their financial obligations had not fulfilled. Later in the campaign, he described the remark as a form of negotiation to bring allies to the pony.
Canada is one of the countries that do not achieve the goal despite political hectoring. A promise to achieve it by 2032 was a last decision on the Washington Summit in July, and Canada is Now it is working to accelerate your timeline.
Trump has a long story in which he complained about NATO and accused members of not pulling their weight on the military spending and overall to be a matter of course that they can rely on the United States for their defense.
On Monday, Rutte said that an idea of a European defense strategy without the United States would be a “silly thought”.
Steve Saideman, a political scientist who holds Paterson’s chairman for international affairs at Carleton University, said he believes that the trade war between the USA and Canada will have profound effects on allies.
“You will be waiting for your turn,” said Saideman.
“If the United States are ready to cut off their own arm to spit out poison towards Canada, what will it do with the countries that are less dependent on?”
The fact that the Trump government aims at Canada and Denmark is also important because both countries were “ready to bleed in Afghanistan for the United States,” he said.
When Washington harasses these countries, it will be more difficult for them to follow the United States in the future.
Much of the development is without precedent and the Saideman is admittedly pessimistic about the future of NATO, which has recently been expanded to Finland and Sweden.
He can now imagine that the United States will not come to the help of their allies – or withdraw directly.
Saideman said he never thought that NATO would end. “
There are winners with all this dung, he added.
“The traditional opponents of the United States are very, very happy at this moment,” he said.
“You are not sure what threats are being met, but Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, that is all great news for you. Because the division among western countries is what you want and Trump it on a plate to them.
