Trump puts NATO alliance at risk of collapse for first time since World War II

The reaction in the corridors of power in Moscow and Beijing will have been one of undisguised glee. Donald Trump has again turned on Europe – imposing sweeping tariffs on allies, including Britain, in his quest to acquire Greenland.

The maverick US president insists he needs the island to counter Russia and China in the strategic Arctic region. He has refused to rule out a military annexation.

Danish military forces join hundreds of troops from European NATO members to conduct exercises in the Arctic Ocean off Nuuk, Greenland, in September.Credit: AP

In a bid to appease Trump – and perhaps to shame him into de-escalating the diplomatic crisis – the UK, Denmark, France, Germany and other NATO allies sent troops to Greenland. It was meant to show that NATO was serious about Arctic security. Instead, it has left the alliance at risk of collapse for the first time since its formation after the Second World War.

Trump wrote on social media: “These countries, who are playing this very dangerous game, have put a level of risk in play that is not tenable or sustainable.”

Was NATO’s most powerful member really accusing his allies of flexing their military muscles in what he insists is the US backyard? Its sphere of influence?

For Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, still tight in the embrace of their “no limits” alliance, this was the perfect late Christmas present.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in March.Credit: AP

They have long argued that NATO is unreliable and divided. Now its divisions are laid bare, and its members are being slapped with American tariffs for committing to the very values NATO was formed to uphold.

For all the shock, the move is textbook Trump. It is a negotiating tactic honed from his days as a New York real-estate mogul. He applies pressure first, driving his opponent to the negotiating table, where he waits with the deal he wants.

In his previous life, Trump sued some of his business partners. Now he hits his allies with tariffs. Since returning to office last year, he has used tariffs as a negotiating tool to get other countries, including close ally Britain, to conform to his demands.

In April, Trump unveiled his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs, which applied a baseline 10 per cent on all imports from all countries. On top of that, he imposed “reciprocal tariffs”, ranging from 10 per cent to 50 per cent, on the countries with which the US had the greatest trade deficits.

US President Donald Trump shaking hands with supporters at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.Credit: AP

Sir Keir Starmer and other European leaders spent huge amounts of political capital trying to strike trade deals and to avoid the punitive levies. They are back where they started, with less credibility and the threat of having the tariffs increased to 25 per cent by June.

For Starmer, it will be particularly painful. He won plaudits for securing lower tariffs than the EU thanks to some canny diplomacy. Now, much of that has been wiped away by his and other European leaders’ miscalculation. They were playing by the old rules of diplomacy, Trump made up his own rules.

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The US is spending political goodwill like it is going out of fashion. As for Europe, already embarrassingly sidelined from the Ukraine negotiations, any further concessions will make it look ever weaker.

That weakness, particularly when it comes to security, lies behind the instinct to appease Trump. Europe currently cannot protect itself from Russia without the US. Until it can, its options are severely limited.

Would any country, except perhaps Denmark, be prepared to sacrifice NATO for Greenland?

As Winston Churchill once warned, “an appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile, hoping it will eat him last”.

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Europe has surely now discovered that feeding Trump has achieved very little. All the while, Russia and China watch in delight as NATO totters under the self-inflicted damage.

Telegraph, UK

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