Trump does an about-face on Ukraine and NATO, at least for now

Not surprisingly, President Trump caused considerable anxiety at the NATO Summit when he railed against European allies for offering insufficient support to American operations in the Strait of Hormuz.

He reserved his toughest language for Spain, which has refused to accept NATO’s 5 percent defense spending targets and which has been outspokenly critical of the American-Israeli Operation Epic fury.

Trump ordered an immediate halt to all trade with Spain, although that may not be feasible given the possible need for Congressional approval for such a move. Finally, Trump reasserted his determination to take Greenland from Denmark and threatened to withdraw troops from Europe.

Given his forceful comments, it initially seemed likely that the friction he had generated would undermine the summit. Nevertheless, in the end, Trump sent a far more nuanced message to his NATO allies.

This time, Trump at least said nothing about leaving NATO or taking Greenland by force. Nor did he say anything about withdrawing troops from Europe. Indeed, two days before the summit began, Poland’s defense minister reported that the Trump administration had agreed to end its suspension of a planned rotation of an additional 4,000 troops to Poland. Trump did not deny the report. Moreover, last week he thanked Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda for Vilnius’s willingness to provide access and permanent basing to American troops. These were hardly indications of a move to withdraw troops from Europe.

Despite the apprehension of European policymakers prior to the opening of the summit, there appears to have been little friction in formulating the communique that NATO........

© The Hill