Trump’s United States is playing its own game – NATO allies are now being threatened

The United States under Trump is not playing fair on the football field. Even in NATO, the United States seems to play by its own rules.

In the World Cup, the president Donald Trump had asked Fifa Gianni Infantinoa to review a US player Folarin Balogunin red card and suspension, which was then overturned by Fifa. Trump praised FIFA for making a great decision.

In NATO, the United States plays its own game by dividing the member countries into sheep and goats. Trump has questioned that he will defend countries that do not invest enough in their defense. In addition, the United States has promised countries that manage their defense well a right-of-way in arms sales, access to leaders’ speeches and defense investments.

Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte tried to explain Trump’s actions in the best possible way at his press conference in Ankara.

“Look, at the end of the day, it’s up to each ally – including the United States – to decide how it builds its relationship with the other thirty-one allies,” Rutte said.

The United States is forcing Europe to be stronger and take more responsibility for its own defense, which is fair in itself, but Trump is doing it in a way that could create a defense deficit in Europe if the United States uncontrollably withdraws its troops and equipment from the old continent, as Europe fears.

According to Rutte, it is only a good thing that the United States “really strongly” encourages the allies to move towards the five percent goal and to ensure that the production of the defense industry is increased significantly.

“The United States has always been committed to NATO, but Eisenhower’s since time immemorial, its expectation has been that we would spend as much on defense as the United States. Now we are finally getting to that situation,” Rutte said.

NATO’s Secretary General also assured that the withdrawal of US forces and capabilities from Europe will be done in a controlled manner.

More American weapons

In addition to the pressure on the allies, the goal of the United States in Ankara is to sell even more weapons to Europe and to ensure that Europeans also buy American weapons in the future.

US Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker emphasized before the summit the economic importance of NATO’s defense cooperation. According to him, the allied countries have committed to nearly 120 billion dollars in new defense spending over the past year, and about half of the purchases have targeted weapon systems manufactured in the United States.

Whitaker thanked the Europeans for the additional investments, but at the same time he warned Europe not to build the defense industry in a way that would favor European companies at the expense of Americans.

On Tuesday, there are going to be significant announcements in the defense sector in Ankara.

According to Rutte, NATO plans to announce tens of billions worth of new contracts in the defense industry.