April 02, 2019
With Trump, NATO Chief Tries to Navigate Spending Minefields
Source: The New York Times
Journalist: Julian E. Barnes
He flew across the ocean to celebrate NATO’s 70th anniversary with the largest and most important member of the military alliance. So to outsiders it appeared to be an awkward moment on Tuesday for Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO secretary general, as he sat stiffly by while President Trump criticized German defense spending and predicted that the United States would get along with Russia.
“I accept there are differences, but when it comes to defense spending we all agree,” Mr. Stoltenberg said in an interview after his meeting with Mr. Trump, putting a positive spin on the situation.
He said the president had helped push member states to budget an additional $100 billion in defense spending and credited Mr. Trump with “having a real impact.”
Read the full article and more in The New York Times.
Authors
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Julianne Smith
Former Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program
Julianne (“Julie”) Smith is a contributing editor to Foreign Policy, where she coedits “Shadow Government.” She is also a senior advisor at WestExec Advisors, an adjunct senio...
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Jim Townsend
Adjunct Senior Fellow, Transatlantic Security Program
James Joye Townsend Jr. is an adjunct senior fellow in the CNAS Transatlantic Security Program. After eight years as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for European ...
