Donald Trump deals NATO another blow

Donald Trump, who is enjoying a string of successes in the race for the US presidency, took the liberty of lecturing NATO at a rally in South Carolina on 10 February, creating controversy. He declared that under his presidency, the United States would not protect the “deadbeats” of the transatlantic alliance, and that he would “encourage the Russians to do whatever they want”, despite Article 5 of the NATO treaty. Josep Borrell, head of European diplomacy, responded that NATO “was not an à la carte alliance”. The unequal financial participation of NATO member countries is not a new issue. The United States, which provides more than two-thirds of the alliance’s resources, regularly calls for “burden sharing”. But against a backdrop of war in Ukraine and the Russian threat to Europe’s borders, Trump’s possible return to the White House is worrying Europeans, who need to think about their security differently.