Trump's comments for NATO expected with Western criticism

Senior Western officials have criticised former US President Donald Trump on Sunday, as he has suggested that the United States may not protect NATO allies who are not sharing enough money in defence from a potential invasion by Russia.

Any suggestion the Allies will not protect each other harms everyone's safety, including that of the US, and endangers American and European soldiers”, the secretary general has said. NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, through a written statement.

Any attack on NATO will result in a joint and powerful reply”, he has said.

Trump will likely win the republican nomination in the presidential race, to be held in November of this year.

Polish Defence Minister Wladyslaw Cosineak-Kaysz, he reacted, too.

The NATO Moto is one for all, all for one, and this is concrete commitment. Mining the credibility of the Allied states means weakening all NATO”, he said on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

“No type of campaign is the excuse to play with the security of alliance”.

Germany's Foreign Ministry has posted a message “One for all, all for one with calls “Together stronger”, also on X, following Trump's comments.

European Council President Charles Michel has said that “declarations for NATO and Act 5 serve only the interests of [Russian president Vladimir] Putin”

The 5th article of the NATO treaty stipulates that an armed attack against a member of the alliance is considered an attack on all countries and promotes mutual protection.

Trump, recalling a meeting with NATO leaders during a political march in South Carolina, has quoted the president of a large “state”, which has not mentioned his name, asking him, “sir, if we don't, and are attacked by Russia, will you protect us? ”

I said: You didn't pay? Are you a delicuent? ) He said: Yeah, that's what happened. No, I won't protect you. I would actually encourage them to do whatever they want. You have to pay”.

We've heard this before... nothing new”, European Union for Internal Trade Commissioner Thierry Bretton said in an interview for French television LCI.

He may have memory problems, but he was actually a president, not a state, but the European Union”, said Bretton, referring to a conversation European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had with Trump in 2020.

White House spokesman Andrew Bates, questioned about Trump's comments, has said that “encouraging the invasion of our close allies by the assassination regimes is terrible and independent ) endangers American national security, global stability and the economy in our home”.

The 31 NATO member states have agreed to share at least 2 per cent of Bruto's domestic production in the field of defence, but NATO data has shown only 11 of them are doing so.