Former U.S. President Donald Trump is facing backlash from the White House and top Western officials for suggesting he would not defend NATO allies who fail to spend enough on defense and might even encourage Russia to attack them. Trump, who is running for another term in the White House in November and leading President Joe Biden in some polls, has sparked criticism with his comments, and here are the answers to some key questions about NATO, his comments, and their implications.
Founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union with Cold War tensions rising, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a political and military alliance of countries from North America and Europe. Enshrined in Article 5 of its founding treaty is the principle of collective defense – the idea that an attack on one member is considered an attack on all of them. NATO takes decisions by consensus but the political and military strength of the United States means that it is by far the most powerful country in the alliance, with its nuclear arsenal seen as the ultimate security guarantee.
NATO currently has 31 members – most of them European nations, plus the United States and Canada. The newest member is Finland, which joined last April in reaction to Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Sweden applied to join along with Finland but is waiting for Hungary to ratify its application as the final major step before membership.
During the Cold War, NATO’s main focus was protecting Western Europe from the Soviet Union. After the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO expanded to take in former communist bloc countries from Central and Eastern Europe.
Trump, as U.S. president from 2017-21, often criticized NATO and members such as Germany, accusing them of not paying enough for their own defense and relying on Washington for protection. He openly questioned the collective defense principle. Trump has often accused other NATO members of not paying their dues, giving the impression that the alliance is like a club with membership fees. However, NATO operates differently. It has some common funds, to which all members contribute. But the vast bulk of its strength comes from members’ own national defense spending – to maintain forces and buy arms that can also be used by NATO.
According to NATO estimates from July last year, 11 members were expected to meet the 2% target in 2023. Those members were Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Britain and Slovakia. NATO is expected to release updated figures in the coming days that will show more allies meeting the 2% target, according to people familiar with the data.
In Article 5 of the founding treaty, NATO members declared that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America “shall be considered an attack against them all”. They agreed they would “assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force”. However, Article 5 stops short of a commitment to an automatic military response to help an ally under attack. That means the strength of Article 5 depends on clear statements from political leaders that it will be backed up by action.
“Any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our security, including that of the U.S., and puts American and European soldiers at increased risk,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Sunday.
