Trump comments show Europe must spend more on defense, Latvia says

[February 17, 2024]  By Andrew Gray
 
MUNICH (Reuters) - Donald Trump's stark comments on NATO show that Europeans should take more responsibility for their security, but they will still need the transatlantic military alliance, Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins said.

Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins speaks at a rally in support of Ukraine at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, Sweden, December 18, 2023. TT News Agency/Henrik Montgomery via REUTERS/File Photo

Trump sparked fierce criticism from top Western officials for saying that, as U.S. president, he had told an unnamed leader he would not protect countries that failed to meet NATO defense spending targets, and would even encourage Russia to attack them.

Karins, a former prime minister of his Baltic nation who was born and raised in the U.S., said in an interview with Reuters that Trump's comments last week were "unexpectedly sharp", but reflected broader U.S. sentiment which Europe should heed.

"Many presidents have been saying for many years that in Europe, we - being a generally wealthy society - should invest more in our own defense," Karins said as he walked between events at the annual Munich Security Conference on Friday.

"The U.S. over time, I think, will be less inclined to feel that they have to fully underwrite European security," he said.

Karins said part of Europe's response should be to continue to spend more on defense - a trend fuelled by Russia's seizure of Crimea in 2014 and full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He pointed out that NATO this week estimated that 18 of its 31 members would meet the alliance target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense in 2024, up from 11 in 2023.

"There is a group of us that are investing above the minimum and are planning to go to 3% and even more, given the circumstance that we're in and the real threat of Russia," said Karins, whose country shares a border with Russia.

Karins said Europe would still need the structures and coordination provided by the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization for its forces to operate effectively together, as Europe was not a country with a single army.

"We have many armies with many different specifications of weapons systems," he said. "We will still need NATO to help coordinate us."

(Reporting by Andrew Gray; Editing by Jan Harvey)

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