Trump's Vision Spells Trouble for NATO

Demands on military spending and ceding territory to U.S. risk undermining alliance

- DANIEL MICHAELS

President-elect Donald Trump's latest demands of America's NATO partnersthat they cede territory to the U.S. and spend more on defense than Washington itself does-risk undermining allies' confidence and potentially emboldening adversaries.

In a news conference on Tuesday, the president-elect raised the prospect of forcibly taking over Canada and Greenland, which is part of Denmark. Canada and Denmark are founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the U.S. is treaty-bound to protect them.

Trump also said NATO allies should raise their militarget to tary-spending around 5% of gross domestic product from the current target of at least 2%. The U.S. last year spent roughly 3.4% of GDP on its military, in line with recent years, NATO said.

Trump's comments can be seen as opening bids in hardnosed negotiations more than policy statements, some analysts and Trump advisers said.

Still, they are unprecedented. Never before has someone elected as U.S. president publicly discussed using military force or other coercive measures to take over part or all of closely allied countries or demanded such high levels of military spending.

Low military spending by Canada and European members of NATO has long angered Trump, who during his first term threatened to withdraw from the alliance if outlays didn't increase. He has said European countries should reimburse the U.S. for decades of protection and has called them freeloaders for not adequately funding their own security.

Fraying support

The new pressure from Trump comes amid uncertainty over his approach to the war in Ukraine. Under President Biden, NATO members have largely been unified on the need to support Kyiv in its fight to eject Russian forces.