What’s happening: Donald Trump recently announced that he wouldn’t defend NATO allies who don’t commit to spending at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense, and that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever the hell they want” in that situation.
E.U. response: European leaders reacted with fury; one remarked that Trump’s comments were “incomprehensible,” and another commented that they served “only Putin’s interest.”
Why it matters: Trump’s campaign looks like it could beat Biden’s in November, which has NATO members — mostly Europeans — worried because most do not spend 2 percent on defense. Doing so would require that E.U. establishments cut social services, an extremely unpopular proposition politically.
Priorities: Some E.U. states must choose between social services or defense. The U.S. can afford both; even if its military budget was reduced by half, it would still be the largest in the world by almost $200 billion. But as most European states spend immense sums on social services and minimal funds on military, if their militaries were reduced by half, they would all but disappear.
