30 May, 2017
But Trump has earlier questioned that provision-at least in the case of nations that are behind in their payments-and Europe hoped that he would state his commitment to that key article.
"NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations", he said.
Trump also declined to explicitly endorse Article 5 of NATO's founding treaty, which states that an attack on any allied state is an attack on all.
The clearest - and the most significant - indication comes from the comments of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who told a rally of 2,500 people in Munich where she kicked off her campaign to be re-elected that the EU must now be prepared to look after itself, that it could no longer depend on the United Kingdom (UK) or America; "we Europeans have to take fate into our own hands". Perhaps Trump imagined he'd get his own back by subjecting Macron to his famous handshake, the U.S. president reportedly treating challenging acquaintances to a bone-crushing squeeze.
With the recently elected French president Emmanuel Macron supporting this sentiment, a Europe led by France and Germany seems set to emerge. Given the reference to the "deep state" and the prevalence of war/fight rhetoric in the quotes given to Axios ("We're getting street fighters ready to go") plus the fact that they ran a softball piece today on Steve Bannon returning to prominence in Trump's inner circle, I'm guessing that the "war room" stuff is mainly coming from Bannon and his allies. It didn't always like what it saw. In Brussels, he was captured on videotape as he rudely shoved aside Montenegro's prime minister to position himself at the center of a group photo. On the same day, his wife Melania swatted away his attempt to hold hands.
But in the end, officials said, the result was better than they had feared. In Israel, after an historic direct flight from Riyadh, Trump raised eyebrows with the comment, "we just got back from the Middle East".
Last week's Brussels NATO summit made news - but not for what transpired in its meetings.
By the time he got to Sicily, Trump probably wished he were back at the glittering sword-dance ceremony in the Middle East, where various parties - Israelis, Palestinians, Saudis - need the US for trade, peace and protection. After the presidential election, the Continent's leaders always figured they'd be going it alone without the Brexit-loving, free trade-bashing, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation skeptic.
