Ministerial meeting in Brussels: Now also tariffs: NATO struggles for dealing with Trump

In NATO, the unprecedented pay decisions by US President Donald Trump are fueling the concerns about a further escalation of the transatlantic tensions. At a foreign ministerial meeting in Brussels, participants warned that the measures against the European Allies could slow down the economic growth necessary for upgrading Russia.

Protectionism will not help to build a stronger defense, said Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide. The French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was convinced that the punitive tariffs imposed by Trump will have negative economic effects on all NATO members.

Eide pointed out that Trump’s procedure contradicts Article 2 of the NATO contract. There it is said that the alliance states should strive to “eliminate opposites in their international economic policy and to promote economic cooperation between individual or all parties”.

Russia is missing from Trump’s tariff list

Trump’s approach is considered to be particularly explosive because Russia of all people is one of the very few countries that are not affected. In addition, it is difficult to reconcile with the plans to force the European NATO partners into defense spending of up to five percent of their economic strength.

“We want NATO to get stronger. We want NATO to become more efficient. And the only way that NATO can get stronger and more powerful is when our partners (…) have more skills,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Brussels. Nobody expected the five percent goal in one or two years. “But the way there must be credible.” This is an uncomfortable but fundamental truth.

There was initially no answer from large NATO countries such as Germany, France, Spain and Italy. So far, they had considered defense expenditure of five percent of gross domestic product to the foreseeable future. Germany and France recently came to just a little more than two percent, Italy and Spain were even very clear. According to alliance numbers, the United States was recently with a GDP quota of around 3.4 percent. Rubio made it clear that the five percent would also apply to his country.

Baerbock: further expand European security pillars

The executive German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) said in view of the US claims, Russia threatened peace and security on this side and beyond the Atlantic. “That is why, as a NATO partner, we will further expand the European security pillar as a whole.”

With a view to the NATO summit in June, she demanded that when looking for alliance partners, the view beyond the Atlantic in the Indopazacifik demanded. It is important to “further expand the alliance strength by finding joint answers to the regular international order”.

NATO general secretary relies on a three percent mark

According to the current planning status, a new joint target for defense expenditure is to be agreed at the summit in the Haag. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte hopes that there can be an agreement to more than 3 percent. The former Dutch Prime Minister left the new transatlantic tensions uncommented because of the tariffs and spent the motto that the two -day meeting of Foreign Minister was not about economic things.

Rutte currently has the difficult task of maintaining the cohesion of the alliance despite Trump’s policy. So he was remarkable recently when Trump undisputedly started negotiations with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin for the war in Ukraine and raised claims for Greenland. Ruttes’s goal is to keep the Americans from a larger deduction from Europe at least as long as the Europeans have closed their numerous military gaps.

Rubio initially left open whether this can succeed. To the delight of numerous Allies, however, he was much more positive in Brussels than recently US Defense Minister Pete Hegseth. Fearing that Trump could strive for an emergency from NATO in the dispute over the topic described Rubio as unfounded hysteria and exaggeration. “President Trump made it clear that he supported NATO,” he said. The United States would remain in the alliance. It is also evidence that there has been a new US ambassador at NATO with Matthew Whitaker since this Thursday.

The sound at Hegseth was still significantly rougher. In February, he had unequivocally let the Europeans know that Trump wanted to significantly reduce US military presence in Europe. In the future, the Europeans would have to take care of conventional defense and deterrent in Europe, he made it clear.