Category Archives: NATO

WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has long been seen as mercurial, but maybe never quite so much as this past week.

The US president in recent days abandoned a series of campaign promises and strident world views that were held for months and, in some cases, years.

From China to Syria, trade to the dollar, a rapid succession of 180 degree reversals has left Washington, foreign capitals and Trump's own fans with a nasty case of political whiplash.

Just 87 days ago Trump declared NATO "obsolete." On Wednesday he proclaimed "it's no longer obsolete," a seemingly miraculous rediscovery of purpose for the usually slow-moving alliance.

After talks and a slice of chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago, China's Xi Jinping was no longer responsible for the "rape" of the US economy. Instead, Xi was a leader with whom Trump enjoyed good "chemistry" and "bonding."

Others were not so lucky -- falling on the wrong side of Trump's list of good guys and bad guys.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad went from tolerated leader to political dead man walking, after Trump saw images of toddlers suffocating from a suspected sarin attack blamed on Damascus.

"That's a butcher. That's a butcher," Trump said, adding there was no place for Assad in Syria's future politics.

"There is a moral affront and there is maybe a personal anger, even a humiliation for Trump," said Hussein Ibish of the Arab Gulf States Institute.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's refusal to end his support for Assad has resulted in another dramatic about face.

It was "certainly possible" Putin knew about the sarin attack, Trump said.

"Right now, we're not getting along with Russia at all. We may be at an all-time low in terms of relationship with Russia," Trump said pensively.

He may have omitted the Cuban Missile Crisis and much of the Cold War, but it was an unmistakable message and a far cry from the praise Putin got from Trump during the campaign.

Almost simultaneously, Trump also reversed his opposition to the Export-Import Bank, said he might renominate Fed chair Janet Yellen after all and proclaimed the dollar too strong.

And his budget guru quietly declared that a promise to eliminate the deficit was just "hyperbole."

For White House spin doctors, these were not policy U-turns at all, but evidence Trump is bending the world to his will.

"If you look at what's happened, it's those entities or individuals in some cases, or issues, evolving towards the president's position," said White House press secretary Sean Spicer.

On issues like NATO turning its attention to terrorism to China abandoning currency manipulation -- from the White House perspective, things are just getting better in the Age of Trump.

In reality, China stopped weakening the yuan years ago and NATO has been fighting jihadist groups for the better part of a decade.

Part of the explanation for Trump's reversal may come from inside the White House, where radicals like Steve Bannon, Mike Flynn and KT McFarland have been sacked or notably sidelined.

At the National Security Council, HR McMaster has taken the reins and, according to insiders, is presiding over a more structured policy-making process that hews toward a more conventional fact-based approach.

In the West Wing, globalists like Trump's daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner and top economic advisor Gary Cohn are on the ascendency.

But the idiosyncrasies of a 70-year-old dealmaker may also explain some of his strategic gymnastics.

Trump's softer tone on Japan, China and NATO have all come after face-to-face meetings with their leaders, who each sought to mimic the businessman's transactional approach.

After meeting Trump, Xi refrained from blocking a UN vote condemning Assad, turned away North Korean coal ships and, according to officials, signaled market access may soon improve for US auto and agricultural firms.

All that was manna for the wheeling-dealing president, who promptly said China was not manipulating its currency -- despite promising to make that declaration on day one.

Trump also appears to be learning on the job. Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, the political neophyte expressed his surprise at learning that China cannot dictate terms in North Korea.

"After listening for 10 minutes, I realized it's not so easy," Trump told the paper.

"I felt pretty strongly that they had a tremendous power over North Korea," he said. "But it's not what you would think."

And if Trump has proven himself to be a dealmaker, he has also proven himself to be an opportunist.

His tougher lines on Syria and Russia are overwhelmingly popular. His overture to Beijing comes as Gallup reported that China is more popular in America than it has been in three decades.

Those looking for a "Trump doctrine" might have to wait, but those looking for explanations may look no further than the man himself.

See the article here:
Donald Trump flipflops on NATO, China, Russia, Syria, trade and more - Economic Times

Its been a busy week for President Trump. In less than seven days, he has learned that Russia is not our ally and that far from being obsolete, NATO is instead a great alliance and the bulwark of international peace and stability as he declared to NATOs Secretary General during a meeting at the White House on April 12.

That offers hope. To really reduce innocent deaths and violence, Trump could add United Nations peacekeeping, and democracy support to his tutorial. Meanwhile, like a clock stuck on twelve, Trump was occasionally if unwittingly correct about the need for NATO reform.

Yet, NATO was fundamentally designed for an older style of warfare in which the Russians came barreling through the Fulda gap in tanks. NATO is simply not designed for todays murky form of proxy warfare.

Prepositioning weapons in Eastern Europe may offer some deterrent, but weaponry is less decisive than willpower and more creative methods of intervention.

Wars today are likely to mimic the Ukraine where Russian troops mingle with fifth-column separatists, or Syria, where Russian weapons and air support assist Assads troops and murkier forces from Iran and Hezbollah.

A united NATO may deter such incursions, but the Wests admonishment of Georgias President for egging Russia into war in 2008, the failure of Britain and the U.S. to uphold a red line in Syria in 2013, and the weak pushback on Russias seizure of the Crimea the following year have encouraged Russia to continue its strategy.

To do its primary job, NATO must recalibrate, creating tripwires and treaties that serve as deterrents to a new form of warfare that is likely to continue.

Meanwhile, war is no longer the great killer it once was. Battle deaths used to be in the millions, but todays shadowy wars are far less deadly. On average, wars between states kill only about 3,000 people a year today, and despite an uptick in civil war deaths thanks to Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, civil wars now kill only about 90,000 people a year.

Meanwhile, Mexicos drug cartels killed the same number of people as the violence in Iraq in 2015. More Nigerians and Indians died violently that year than Syrians, and more people died violent deaths in Brazil than in Iraq and Syria combined. The devastation of war is horrific, but 83 percent of violent deaths today occur outside of conflict zones.

From 2010 to 2015, three kinds of violence were responsible for the deaths of more than four times as many individuals as battle deaths from war: Homicide often caused by organized crime; violence among organized groups of citizens, such as paramilitaries and gangs; and violence from terrorists and states killing their own citizens. And the people killed were more likely to be children and ordinary people, rather than professional soldiers or self-proclaimed rebels.

If Trump is truly concerned about the violent, unwarranted deaths of innocent children and it seems he is there is more he can do.

The much-maligned United Nations actually has a strong track record of keeping peace. A RAND study analyzing U.S. and UN missions from the 1960s through 2005 found that two-thirds of those UN peacekeeping missions were successful. They are also cheap: In 2005, the UNs 17 peacekeeping operations, involving 70,000 troops, cost less than one month of U.S. led operations in Iraq. Despite its flaws, peacekeeping contributed to the fact that since the early 1990s, civil wars have been cut in half and from 1993 to 2003, deaths in civil wars reduced by fivefold.

Some of the greatest problems with peacekeeping stem from the Security Councils imposed rules of engagement and the failure of the great powers to provide speedy money for troops. Some of the worlds best conflict scholars estimate that if the peacekeeping budget was increased to $800 million and stronger rules of engagement were mandated, major armed conflict might be halved. The deal-maker-in-chief could get better security for less cost by really focusing on reforming and strengthening the United Nations, building on the work of his predecessor.

Finally, state killings, terrorism and even homicide are all linked by a single thread: rotten governments that extract most of a countrys wealth, favor certain groups of citizens, and leave most of society to fend for themselves.

U.S. democracy assistance has a track record of helping people in such countries help themselves. Thats why Russia hates it and has been funding lobbying efforts in the U.S. to curb the paltry money the U.S. spends helping civil societies. Yet instead of doubling down, the Trump Administration and some Senators are letting Russia divide us internally.

Lifeless infants cradled in their fathers arms and grey-faced toddlers gassed to death should drive America and its allies closer together to fight the deaths of innocents. Seizing the moment to reform NATO and the UN and deepen democracy support could place Trump in the surprising role of statesman.

Rachel Kleinfeld has a doctor of philosophy and master of philosophy fromSt. Antony's College, Oxford and aB.A. from Yale University. She is a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Her forthcoming boo is on how countries escape immense violence. You can find her onTwitter: @RachelKleinfeld.

The views of contributors are their own and are not the views of The Hill.

Visit link:
NATO, the UN and democracy: A trio for Trump - The Hill (blog)

President Trumps relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin may turn out to be too close for comfort, but Trumps instincts about U.S.-Russia ties are at least partly right. The U.S. simply cant afford poor relations with the planets other nuclear superpower.

Security in Syria depends on it, for one. The even bigger issue, however, is security in Europe, where tensions between Russia and NATO have been acute for three years.

Some analysts maintain that Putin cultivates an adversarial relationship with the outside world to strengthen his popularity at home and thus his hold on power, and also to provide him with an excuse to suppress dissent. This may be true, but he also appears to bear a genuine grudge against the United States for its post-Cold War assertiveness near Russian territory. For two decades, and especially over the last 10 years, Putin and many other Russian officials have complained that NATO's eastward march threatens Russias security.

Granted, NATO has gone out of its way to consult and work with Russia since the Cold War ended. It has also avoided putting major combat forces in new member states that are located near Russias borders.

Still, one can understand why Russians would find it overbearing and triumphalist that NATO moved 1,000 miles east while taking in a dozen new members, most of which were previously part of the Warsaw Pact or the Soviet Union. The U.S. also supported democratic forces that gave rise to revolutions in Ukraine, Georgia and Kyrgyzstan, and, as Moscow sees it, we attacked other countries, including Serbia, Iraq and Libya, without a legal basis for doing so and often with poor results. Meanwhile, NATO expansion continues. Last month, the U.S. Senate ratified the Balkan nation of Montenegros accession to the alliance, and Trump on Tuesday signed off on the move.

In Putin's eyes, we are an out-of-control hyper-power that must be opposed. His view is warped, but it appears to be sincere.

The whole situation is counterproductive, and nowhere more so than in Ukraine and Georgia. President George W. Bush persuaded NATO to publicly offer eventual membership to the two countries both former Soviet republics, both adjacent to Russia but there was no timetable established and no interim guarantee of security in the meantime. They are thus fully exposed to Russian aggression. Exacerbating matters, NATO has a longstanding policy of not accepting new members until they resolve any territorial disputes with neighbors. Though a sensible idea in the abstract, the policy gives Putin an incentive to stoke trouble with Ukraine and Georgia, because any ongoing disputes invalidate their near-term eligibility for NATO membership.

Trump should at least try to deescalate tensions. He could do so with a broad agreement between NATO states, Moscow and the neutral countries of Europe. In such an agreement, NATO could vow not to expand further. In return, Russia would commit to leave the neutral countries alone, withdraw military forces from their territories, allow them to join whatever diplomatic and economic groups they want (including the European Union), and stop arming and abetting separatists in places such as the Donbas region of Ukraine and northern Georgia. Once Putin met these conditions, the U.S. could lift its sanctions against Russia.

Trumps two predecessors also wanted to improve U.S.-Russia relations, of course. Bush tried until disputes over Iraq and NATO soured the atmosphere; Russia then invaded Georgia in the summer of 2008. President Obama talked of a reset with Moscow before his hopes were dashed by Russia's aggression against Ukraine and Syria, and by Putin's suppression of dissent and democracy at home.

Putin continues to make diplomacy difficult. He is now adamantly opposing Trumps limited and careful reprisal against the gruesome use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime. And as investigations heat up into Russian interference in the U.S. presidential election, much of Trump's top national security team is reverting to anti-Russia rhetoric.

If we continue down this path, a U.S.-Russia war could even erupt over a contested area in Europe. To reduce the risk, we need to develop an alternative to further expansion of NATO, one that promotes the security and prosperity of the neutral countries in Eastern Europe.

Michael E. OHanlon is a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion or Facebook

Read this article:
If Trump really wants to improve relations with Russia, he should persuade NATO to stop expanding - Los Angeles Times

Russia has criticized President Donald Trumps decision to ratify Montenegros accession to NATO, suggesting that there has been no shift in policy from previous White House administrations.

Following the Senates overwhelming approval last month, Trump on Tuesday signed the U.S. instrument of ratification for Montenegros accession to NATO. The move was made in defiance of Russias objections and was condemned by Russias Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement issued Thursday.

We view this step as a sign of inertia in Washingtons policies and a reflection of the logic of confrontation in Europe, where new dividing lines are being drawn, read the release.

We note that there is growing criticism of the efforts to sneak Montenegro into NATO even in the United States, where people justly doubt that this step will benefit the alliance itself and strengthen European security.

We regard the policy of including Montenegro in NATO as profoundly erroneous; it runs counter to the core interests of the people of that country and is damaging for the stability of the Balkans and Europe as a whole.

Such criticism was far from unexpected. When discussing NATO plans to invite Montenegro to join the alliance, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in 2014 that the move would be a provocation.

The approval of Montenegro as a NATO member follows accusations from the countrys chief special prosecutor in February that Russian security services were involved in an attempted coup of its government last October. Russia has labeled such claims baseless.

The discordance over Montenegro is just the latest sign of the deterioration of the U.S.-Russia relationship, one that was widely expected to flourish under Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a joint news conference with Italian President Sergio Mattarella after their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia April 11, 2017. Sputnik/Alexei Druzhinin/Kremlin via Reuters

Trump praised Russian President Vladimir Putin as a strong leader on the campaign trail. And, as president-elect, he said Putin was very smart for holding off on retaliating to then-President Barack Obamas sanctions against Russia over its alleged hacking to influence the presidential election.

But, last week, Trump acted in defiance of Moscow by green-lighting missile strikes against a Syrian airfield, a move Russia said could have extremely serious consequences.

Following the incident, Trump on Thursday said that U.S. relations with Russia may be at an all-time low, and that were not getting along with Russia at all.

At the same time, Trump reversed courseon NATO. Having previously called the organization obsolete, Trump argued that the military alliance had since made changes for the better.

I complained about that a long time ago and they made a change, and now they do fight terrorism, he said. I said it was obsolete. Its no longer obsolete.

Go here to read the rest:
Russia Suggests Trump is No Different from Obama After Montenegro NATO Approval - Newsweek

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on March 31, 2017. Virginia Mayo/AP hide caption

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels on March 31, 2017.

President Trump meets at the White House Wednesday with the secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg.

Afterward, the two men will take questions from reporters, which are likely to center on the administration's commitment to the North Atlantic alliance as well as last week's deadly chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Administration officials have tried to reassure NATO allies that the United States remains "unwavering" in its commitment to their defense, even though Trump repeatedly questioned the relevance of the alliance during the campaign. He's also complained about countries that don't spend enough on their own defense, and suggested the U.S. would review those payments before deciding whether to come to an ally's aid.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson raised the issue of defense spending late last month at a NATO meeting in Brussels.

"As President Trump has made clear," Tillerson said, "it is no longer sustainable for the U.S. to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO's defense expenditures."

Each NATO country has pledged to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic product on its own defense by 2024. Only a handful of alliance members meet that target now. U.S. defense spending accounts for somewhat over 3 percent of its GDP. Germany spends only about 1.2 percent of its GDP on its defense.

After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in March, Trump complained that "Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!"

NATO's secretary general says defense spending is just part of the picture, though.

"We need many different tools to stabilize our neighborhood," Jens Stoltenberg said last month. "It's not either development or security. It's development and security."

Trump's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year would boost U.S. military spending by 10 percent, while making deep cuts in development and foreign aid.

Likewise, Trump wants to cut by half the number of refugees the U.S. takes in. He's criticized Merkel for Germany's welcoming attitude towards refugees.

For all his questions about NATO, Trump looks forward to adding a new member to the alliance. The tiny Balkan nation of Montenegro has been approved to join NATO and is expected to take part in an alliance meeting next month.

Russia opposes any such NATO expansion. But the Trump administration which previously pushed for improved ties with Russia has been cooler towards Moscow since last week's chemical weapons attack allegedly carried out by Russia's longtime ally, Syria.

"It's no question that Russia is isolated," White House spokesman Sean Spicer said Tuesday. "They have aligned themselves with North Korea, Syria, Iran. That's not exactly a group of countries that you're looking to hang out with."

Read more:
Trump Hosts NATO Leader Amid Tension With Russia - NPR

Germanys Chancellor Angela Merkel holds a news conference after a EU Summit at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium in March. Photo by Eric Vidal/Reuters

WASHINGTON After accusing German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the campaign trail of ruining Germany by welcoming refugees, President Trump will have his first face-to-face meeting with the German leader at the White House on Tuesday.

The two were expected to discuss strengthening the NATO alliance, collaborating to fight terrorism and taking steps to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, White House officials said Friday.

Trumps first encounter will be aimed at building a personal rapport with a European partner who was among former President Barack Obamas strongest allies and international confidantes, according to the officials, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity despite the presidents recent criticism of anonymous sources.

Merkel, however, will need to look past Trumps past comments, when he accused her of ruining Germany because of her acceptance of refugees. Trump often claimed that his Democratic presidential rival, Hillary Clinton, was running to be Americas Angela Merkel and argued that Germany was in the midst of crisis.

White House officials said Trump would press Germany to set an example on the need for NATO members to spend more on defense, which Germany has resisted. NATOs 28-member countries committed in 2014 to spending 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense within a decade but only the U.S. and four other members of the post-World War II military coalition are in compliance.

Trump referred to NATO as obsolete prior to his inauguration. But, he has since told European leaders he agrees on the fundamental importance of the military alliance, a message that was reinforced by Vice President Mike Pence during his recent trip to Europe.

The meeting with Merkel will also allow Trump to discuss peace efforts in Ukraine. Pence and other U.S. officials have said Russia must adhere to a 2015 deal to end fighting between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.

White House officials said Trump was eager to hear Merkels views on her interactions with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Many European allies have been rattled by Trumps positive statements about Putin and the meeting will come amid questions about Trump associates connections to Russia.

The White House said the two leaders may also discuss the Paris accord on climate change. Trump vowed during his campaign to withdraw from the climate agreement, suggesting that global warming is a hoax created by the Chinese to hurt U.S. competitiveness. But the administration said it is still formulating its policy on the issue ahead of the G7 meeting in Italy in May and the G20 gathering in Germany in July.

READ MORE: Americans divided on whether to allow refugees into the country, poll says

Go here to see the original:
Trump and Merkel to discuss NATO, terrorism in next week's ...

Officials said the explosion happened in a mixing building on site and the wounded employees have been taken to hospital

AN EMPLOYEE has died and four left injured after an explosion at a US Army ammunition plant today, officials said.

The blast happened at about 1pm in a mixing building on site at the Lake City plant, which operates the NATO test centre, in Independence, Missouri.

The wounded employees were treated on site and investigation is underway to established what caused the blast, authorities said.

Lieutenant Colonel Eric Dennis, Lake City Commander, told a press conference: "I want to express my condolences to the family of the Lake City plant employee who died today.

"Making ammunition is dangerous work and our employees risk their lives to protect our men and women in uniform.

"This is a sacrifice they make to support our country and I am humbled by the ultimate sacrifice this employee made today."

He said the name of the male employee was not being released pending next of kin notification.

Obital ATK Vice President and General Manager Jim Nichols saidthat the explosion was in a "primer manufacture facility", where various chemical agents are mixed to create the compounds used in ammunition

He added: "We mix those energetics at this facility to put in the primers that are installed in the round."

Mr Nichols alsosaid he had been saddened by the incident, adding: "We're a family out here at Lake City and today we lost a family member and our hearts truly go out to the family of the member we lost.

"We truly are saddened."

A spokeswoman for theArmy Joint Munitions Command said no other details, including what caused the blast, were immediately available.

The 77-year-old sprawling factory near Kansas City provides "quality small-calibre munitions and operates the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) test centre".

A statement on the plant's Facebook today said: "At approximately 1 p.m. today, there was an explosion at Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence, Mo.

"One employee was killed and four employees were injured.

"The four injured employees were evaluated on scene and refused further treatment.

"The explosion was in a primer mixing cell. The investigation is currently ongoing.

"The scene has been secured and the ATF has rendered the area safe so that we can begin determining what happened."

http://www.aaees.org

A further statement said that the factory would remain closed for the rest of the day and staff should call their "building hotline number" before returning to work tomorrow.

The plant - established in December 1940, with production beginning in 1941 - sits on nearly 4,000 acres and is the first of a dozen Army-run small-arms factories.

The property has more than 400 buildings and nine warehouses, and has a storage capacity of more than 700,000 square feet.

Its workforce includes 29 Department of Army civilians and a soldier to provide contract oversight.

It has a governmental staff payroll of $2.9 million.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368

See the article here:
Explosion at NATO army ammunition plant in Missouri leaves one dead and four injured - The Sun

Stars and Stripes

Hecker assumes command of US, NATO air forces in Afghanistan Stars and Stripes James B. Hecker became the top Air Force general in Afghanistan on Tuesday by assuming command of the 9th Air and Space Expeditionary Task Force and the NATO Air Command. Hecker took over from Air Force Maj. Gen. Jeffrey B. Taliaferro, who, over ...

More here:
Hecker assumes command of US, NATO air forces in Afghanistan - Stars and Stripes

Current security challenges and how effective public diplomacy can contribute to addressing them were the main focus of the Public Diplomacy Forum in Tbilisi on 10-11 April. Discussions covered a range of topics including hybrid warfare, strategies to counter propaganda, strategic communications and the role of social media.

The Forum was opened by Prime Minister of Georgia Giorgi Kvirikashvili and NATOs Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, Ambassador Tacan Ildem. Both stressed the importance of ensuring that publics in NATO member states and partner countries are provided with accurate information from free media, pointing to the challenges all countries face from the spread of fake news and disinformation.

"Security and information are interconnected," said Ambassador Ildem. Allies and partners are targets of an information war waged by Russia. We have to respond, but certainly not with the same tools. NATO does not counter propaganda with propaganda. We do so with facts and confidence in our values. We actively counter fake news on social media, engage with media to correct false news stories, and work to ensure that all of our activities, exercises, and operations are conducted in an open and transparent manner."

This was the second Public Diplomacy Forum to be organised in Georgia with the support of NATO. International experts, journalists and policy makers participated in the flagship event of this years NATO Days a week of activities organised across the country to raise awareness of Georgias relations with NATO and highlight important areas of cooperation.

Excerpt from:
NATO - News: High-level Public Diplomacy Forum kicks off NATO ... - NATO HQ (press release)

NATO officials are hoping Wednesdays meeting with the president will be a chance to improve relations between him and the alliance.

When Donald Trump was still a presidential candidate, he said that the alliance is obsolete because it was not taking care of terror and very unfair to the United States because only five of the 28 member states have reached the two per cent of GDP defence spending goal.

Mr Trump has demanded NATO members increase the amount of GDP they pay to the alliance.

GETTY

GETTY

When were paying and nobody else is really paying, you feel like the jerk

Donald Trump

During his campaign trail, he said that he would consider withdrawing the US from the alliance.

He said: Its possible that were going to have to let NATO go,

When were paying and nobody else is really paying, you feel like the jerk.

Deputy director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Christian Molling, said: My impression is that in Brussels everybody is hypersensitive because of this one word obsolete.

Getty Images

1 of 11

Every member country, no matter how large or small, has an equal say in discussions and decisions. Photo shows: Signing the North Atlantic Treaty which marked the beginning of NATO, 1949.

GETTY

Everybody is still nervous.

However Mr Trumps aides have since made statements supporting NATO with the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson discussing unity and strength when he visited the alliance.

The meeting comes one month before Mr Trump will travel to Brussels in May for a gathering of NATO leaders at the alliance headquarters.

NATO officials are planning a meeting to discuss the issues of money and buildings when he visits on May 25.

They will also ask Mr Trump to unveil a memorial for the 9/11 New York terror attacks which will be installed in the headquarters.

NATO is hoping that countries that do not meet the target of two per cent of their GDP being spent on defence spending will be able to discuss a plan about how they are hoping to meet it.

Currently only a handful of nations, including the UK, Greece, Poland and Estonia meet this target.

However the German Foreign Minister has been reluctant to say that Germany will meet the target, claiming money is just one way a country can contribute to the alliance.

The deputy director of the German Council on Foreign Relations, Christian Molling, will emphasise to Mr Trump how much America has profited from the stability that NATO has offered.

He said: NATO has done a great deal in bringing security and stability to Europe and to other parts of the world, and also the US has profited from the stability.

View post:
'Nervous' Nato to meet Donald Trump months after he described it 'obsolete' - Express.co.uk