Donald Trump can’t unilaterally withdraw the US from Nato because of a bill passed by his own Secretary of State, experts said last night. But he can make military cooperation with Europe extremely difficult, if he so chooses.
“Marco Rubio himself recently passed a bill through Congress preventing any US President from unilaterally pulling out,” says Claire Brady of the Sibylline strategic risk group. “But the risk is that Trump and the people he installs in the Defense Department may attempt to obstruct consensus building and you hinder operations that way.”
Measures being considered include ceasing all joint military exercises next year and reducing the size of US forces in Europe by 15%.
She adds: “Trump receives no guidance from traditional Republicans on Armed Services or Intelligence Committees. They don’t have his ear and he’s not looking to be advised by them.
“He is playing both sides right now. He has shown clearly he’s not on the side of NATO but he’s not necessarily on Russia’s side either; he’s really on his own and it’s all about US national interests.”
General Sir James Everard, Nato’s former deputy chief in Europe, said: “The genius of Nato is that it gives America a seat at the European security table every day of the week. I can’t see any reason why any American president would want to turn that off.
“We should recognise this for what it is: it’s going to require Europe to put our hand in the pocket in a way that probably we don’t want to and spend more money.”