To: Bill who wrote (1075542 ) 6/28/2018 1:11:21 PM From: Brumar89 Read Replies (1) | Respond to "NATO is as bad as NAFTA." You're still maintaining that rosy Trumpsplaining view .... Trump is TELLING European leaders NATO is worse than NAFTA, another thing he will kill.Trump told the other leaders: "NATO is as bad as NAFTA." An official read this quote to me from notes transcribed from the private meeting. Trump made the comment after telling the G7 leaders that Crimea probably should belong to Russia because everyone there speaks Russian , the source added. Trump then went on his usual riff about Germany not paying its fair share of defense spending, said the Europeans weren't paying enough and that the U.S. is being ripped off.Trump said of the NATO Summit on July 11-12 in Brussels: "It will be an interesting summit. NATO is as bad as NAFTA. It's much too costly for the U.S." Why this matters: NATO member states are worried about Russian aggression and they want an unambiguous sign that America has their back. By linking NATO to NAFTA — a trade deal that Trump considers an unmitigated disaster for America — Trump reinforced some of the Europeans' worst fears that he'll take a purely transactional approach to next month's summit.they're worried Trump undercut the shared values and commitments of the NATO alliance by spending most of his time bashing NATO members for not "paying enough" and meeting their defense spending commitments.Trump is broadly correct about the defense spending. Many NATO members have been shirking their responsibilities and are nowhere near their promise to spend 2 percent of their Gross Domestic Product on defense.But, as one senior European official put it to me: Trump could do a victory lap of sorts at next month's summit, instead of bashing NATO members (which would please Putin.)Trump, the official said, could point out that NATO members have been increasing their defense spending, and say that it's only because of his pressure. The official said he hoped — but wasn't confident — Trump would take this gentler, more diplomatic route.When Axios shared this reporting with the White House, officials did not attempt to deny these specific comments that were relayed from notes from the G7 heads of state meeting. But NSC spokesman Garrett Marquis said: “The president engaged in a constructive dialogue with his counterparts at G7. Any allegations otherwise are simply wrong.”axios.com Under President Treason, the US has only one ally. Vladimir Putin's Russia. All our old allies are enemies of the American people and Trump will almost certainly say so eventually.
