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‘We should not undermine the credibility of NATO’s deterrence’: Jens Stoltenberg responds to Donald Trump’s threat to abandon allies — Meduza [1]

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Date: 2024-02-14  

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg laid out the case for continuing U.S. support for the alliance at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of the bloc’s meeting of defense ministers this week.

His comments followed a statement by Donald Trump last weekend in which the former U.S. president threatened not to come to the defense of NATO allies who fail to meet the agreed-upon target of spending at least two percent of their GDP on defense if he returns to office.

Stoltenberg repeatedly invoked the importance of maintaining a united front in the face of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine and its aggressive rhetoric against NATO itself. “We should not undermine the credibility of NATO’s deterrence,” he responded when asked what message he has for Trump. He added that the alliance should leave no room for “miscalculation or misunderstanding in Moscow” regarding its commitment to protecting its members.

The secretary general did acknowledge that some member states are falling short of their spending targets. “The criticism that we hear is not primarily about NATO — it’s about NATO allies not spending enough on NATO. And that’s a valid point,” he said. He also announced, however, that he expects 18 of the alliance’s 31 members to meet the two percent spending target in 2024, compared to just 11 in 2023.

“A strong NATO makes the U.S. stronger,” Stoltenberg said, noting that the only time the bloc has invoked Article 5 of its founding treaty, which insures collective defense, was in response to the September 11 attacks against the U.S. “The U.S. has never fought a war alone — they [have] always fought with allies,” he said.

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[1] Url: https://www.meduza.io/en/news/2024/02/14/we-should-not-undermine-the-credibility-of-nato-s-deterrence-jens-stoltenberg-responds-to-donald-trump-s-threat-to-abandon-allies

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