Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
NATO headquarters in Brussels announced today the date of the scheduled press conference for NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte to talk about the agenda of a scheduled meeting of the defense ministers of the alliance countries. A statement from the alliance, a copy of which we received, said that Rutte will hold a press conference next Wednesday, one day before the ministerial meeting, which is the first of its kind at this level within the alliance after US President Donald Trump assumed his second term as President of the United States, the largest member state of the international military organization "NATO". The meeting will be an opportunity to deal with the inquiries and questions raised by the US President in the past few days regarding defense spending and the US role in protecting European countries that constitute the majority of the member states of the alliance. It is expected that the discussions will also include the Ukraine file and the NATO role in supporting Ukraine against Russia, in addition to other files that some call thorny files.
Rutte had recently made statements following a meeting with the British Prime Minister, saying, "I am fully convinced that we are able to deal with all issues. There are always issues between allies. Things do not always go quietly and happily." There are always issues, sometimes bigger and sometimes smaller. But I am absolutely convinced that this will not deter our collective determination to maintain our deterrence. And when you talk about trade, it is interesting to see that the US [defense] trade surplus going into Europe is – since 2022 they sell more to Europe than we sell to them, and the net surplus is $180 billion since 2022. So that tells you something, that there are more numbers and figures to look at, but back to your question, I am absolutely convinced that it will not have an impact on our collective deterrence. On the tariffs, that is clearly not what NATO is about. So I probably shouldn’t comment too much on that, other than to say that when you look at the defense industrial base, it is very clear that the US sells a lot more to Europe than Europe sells to the US. And by the way, we collectively have to produce more. There is a lot of money floating around, and more of it is going to come in, because we are spending more. Last year, non-US allies spent 18 percent more on defense than the year before. So, from 2023 to 2024, it’s 18 percent, almost 20 percent. So, we’re spending more money. That means more money is available for the defense industrial base, and we have to buy it from everywhere. The United States has to increase its production, Norway has to increase its production, the United Kingdom has to increase its production. The European Union, including the big countries like Italy and Spain, Norway outside the European Union, of course, but also, of course, France and then Turkey. So, all of these countries with a big defense industrial base have to increase their defense production, and there’s a lot of money floating around. And again, what we see clearly is this trade surplus from the United States going into Europe. So, there’s a lot more to say about all of these numbers than if we look at the total. And with regard to Greenland, I said before — what I think is very helpful is that President Trump has alerted us to the fact that when it comes to the High North, there’s a geopolitical and strategic issue at stake. I would say this is not just about Greenland. This is about Finland. It is about Sweden, Norway, Iceland, yes, Greenland – and so Denmark – and also Canada, and also the United States. And obviously, collectively as an alliance, we will always look at the best way to make sure that we can address these challenges. On the question about NATO and the assumption that you can run NATO without the United States, which is, for many reasons, a ridiculous idea but it means that you have European defence without the United States – . This is NATO, or whatever the organisation is called, without the United States. And for many reasons, that will not work. First and foremost, because we are not, as the Prime Minister said, and as Keir Starmer said, when you look at Ukraine, it is not just Ukraine and Russia, which would be bad enough. What is happening now is a geopolitical thing. The United States recognises that, the European side of NATO recognises that. China, North Korea, Iran are all reaching out to Russia. So, this is a geopolitical thing happening at the moment with Ukraine. So Ukraine has to win, not just for Ukraine, first and foremost, but also because of the geopolitical impact. As a whole, NATO, we are twenty times larger than the Russian economy. Collectively, we are able to protect NATO territory, including the United States. The United States is also threatened now, with long-range nuclear missiles that could be launched from North Korea in the future, thanks to all the technology that the Russians are providing. So, for many reasons, we have to stay connected. I am a strong supporter of the transatlantic relationship. I absolutely believe that the best thing the West can do is to stay united, and I know that the same thinking still prevails in the United States, including in the White House.