Page 8 - AT

A8 up front
Wednesday 4 december 2019
Trump takes bold stance at NATO as impeachment boils at home

Continued from Front concerned about declines
in the stock market spurred
"I think that's insulting to by his remark that a trade
a lot of different forces," deal with China might not
said Trump. "It's very disre- materialize until after the
spectful." But the president 2020 election.
himself has questioned Trump later called on
whether the alliance has Prince Charles and his wife
become "obsolete," and Camilla and attended a
he accused NATO mem- NATO welcome reception
bers anew of shirking na- at Buckingham Palace,
tional commitments on mili- before proceeding to an
tary spending. event at the prime minis-
Hours later, Macron and ter's residence at Number
Trump sat side by side for a 10 Downing Street. Trump
media session, and Macron punctuated the day of di-
said he stood by his com- plomacy with a fundraiser
ments about the health of for his reelection effort that
the NATO alliance. He also his campaign said brought
firmly expressed his frustra- in $3 million.
tion that Trump withdrew The gathering of NATO
hundreds of American leaders follows Trump's fre-
troops from Syria in Octo- quent criticism of alliance
ber members as falling well ment to spend at least 2% Leaders of the NATO alliance countries, and its secretary general,
The U.S. president bantered short in doing their financial of GDP on defense. join Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles the Prince of
with reporters for more than part through the first three But at this NATO meeting, Wales, for a group picture during a reception at Buckingham
Palace in London, Tuesday Dec. 3, 2019, as they gathered to mark
two hours Tuesday, sitting years of his presidency. Trump — who heads to- 70-years of the alliance. Back row, from left: Xavier Bettel Prime
casually in a salon of Win- After a NATO summit last ward an election year look- Minister of Luxembourg; Egils Levits President of Latvia; Gitanas
field House, the manicured year, he called for mem- ing to showcase foreign Nauseda President of Lithuania; Dusko Markovic Prime Minister
estate of the U.S. ambassa- bers devote at least 4% of policy wins — is offering a of Montenegro; Erna Solberg Prime Minister of Norway; Mark
dor to the United Kingdom, gross domestic product to more optimistic outlook for Rutte Prime Minister of Netherlands; Zuzana Caputova President
where he also met with fel- military spending and took the alliance's future. To that of Slovakia; Andrzej Duda President of Poland; Antonio Costa
Prime Minister of Portugal; Klaus Iohannis President of Romania;
low NATO leaders. aim at German Chancellor end, he suggested he de- Marjan Sarec Prime Minister of Slovenia. Middle row from left:
He slammed the ongoing Angela Merkel, whom he served much of the credit Edi Rama Prime Minister of Albania; Zoran Zaev Prime Minister of
Democratic-led impeach- accused of paying Russia for progress. North Macedonia; Mette Frederiksen Prime Minister of Denmark;
ment inquiry back in the '"billions of dollars for gas "I don't think frankly before Juri Ratas Prime Minister of Estonia; Emmanuel Macron President
United States as a ""hoax" and energy" while failing to us that NATO was chang- of France; Angela Merkel President of Germany; Kyriakos
and professed to be un- meet her nation's commit- ing at all, and NATO is re- Mitsotakis Prime Minister of Greece; Viktor Orban Prime Minister
of Hungary; Katrin Jakobsdottir Prime Minister of Iceland;
Giuseppe Conte Prime Minister of Italy; Andrej Plenkovic Prime
Minister of Croatia. Seated from left: Sophie Wilmas Prime Minister
of Belgium; Rumen Radev President of Bulgaria; Donald Trump
President of United States; Prince Charles The Prince of Wales;
Jens Stoltenberg NATO Secretary General; Queen Elizabeth
II; Boris Johnson Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; Justin
Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada; Pedro Sanchez Acting Prime
Minister of Spain; Recep Tayyip Erdogan President of Turkey;
Milos Zeman President of the Czech Republic.
Associated Press

ally changing right now," added that he's looking at
Trump said as he sat down the possibility of imposing
for a one-on-one talk with unspecified trade penal-
NATO Secretary-General ties against NATO allies
Jens Stoltenberg. that perpetually fall below
White House officials say benchmarks.
that before Trump took of- "Some are way below 1
fice just four NATO mem- percent and that's un-
bers had reached the 2% acceptable, and then if
benchmark set in 2014. something happens we're
Now there are nine, Eight- supposed to protect them
een of the 29 are projected and it's not really fair and
to meet it by 2024. it never has been fair," he
Stoltenberg said that Trump said.
does deserve credit for Trump's talks with Macron
nudging members. were tense at times.
In his meeting with Canadi- Before meeting with him
an Prime Minister Justin Tru- on the sidelines of the sum-
deau, Trump gently ribbed mit, Trump laced into the
the premier — whose French president for what
country is spending about he called "very, very nasty"
1.3% of GDP on defense — comments in The Econo-
as "slightly delinquent." mist about NATO's health
"Some are major delin- with Trump leading its most
quent," said Trump. He important member.q