UK foreign policy chief says Trump is right to urge higher military spending from NATO

[January 10, 2025]  By JILL LAWLESS

LONDON (AP) — Europe’s security “is on a knife-edge” and President-elect Donald Trump is right to say NATO member nations must increase military spending, Britain’s top diplomat said Thursday.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy said that “the post-Cold War peace is well and truly over.”

“Donald Trump and JD Vance are simply right when they say that Europe needs to do more to defend its own continent. It’s myopia to pretend otherwise with Russia on the march,” Lammy said during a speech in London setting out the center-left Labour government’s approach to foreign policy, which he termed “progressive realism.”

Lammy said people often ask him when world affairs will get back to normal, and "my answer is that they will not. Europe’s future security is on a knife edge.”

Trump has for years expressed skepticism about NATO, openly questioning the value of the alliance that has defined American foreign policy for decades and threatening not to defend members that fail to meet defense-spending goals.

This week Trump said NATO countries should spend at least 5% of their GDPs on defense, up from the current 2% target. He also said he would not rule out the use of military force to seize control of Greenland, an autonomous territory of NATO member Denmark.

Britain spends 2.3% of GDP on defense and says it will increase it to 2.5%.

Lammy said that while Trump’s unpredictability and “intensity of rhetoric” were part of his signature style, “we can be guided not entirely by the rhetoric and the language, but by (his) actions as president.”

Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy delivers a speech on the government plans for new sanctions which will target the finances of people smuggling networks as part of efforts to stop migrants crossing the English Channel, in London, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)

He said he did not believe Trump would seize Greenland, and noted that fears for the future of NATO had been raised during Trump’s first term.

“And it turns out it wasn’t at risk. It’s emboldened today, with more members, higher spending on defense," Lammy said.

Lammy has spoken of his friendship with Vance, the incoming vice president, and has been at the forefront of British government efforts to forge good relations with Trump’s inner circle.

Those have been undermined by Trump ally Elon Musk, who has sent a torrent of incendiary tweets in recent days attacking Prime Minister Keir Starmer and demanding he be replaced and imprisoned.

Lammy said he had “real concerns about some of what I’ve seen” from Musk. But he said British officials have not asked Trump or members of his incoming administration to rein in the X and Tesla CEO.

“I’m not aware that Elon Musk has come up" in discussions with the Trump team, he said, noting that Musk's role in the administration as an efficiency czar is focused on domestic issues.

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