At the recent NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, wary European leaders sought an equilibrium with the United States. Against a backdrop of ongoing conflict in Iran and Ukraine, Aslı Aydıntaşbaş asked Thomas Wright and Mara Karlin about the dynamics at play.
KARLIN: The questions about U.S. credibility, U.S. dedication to Article 5, that’s a whole lot less certain now as President Trump talks about the lack of faith he has in NATO, the lack of support he has for it, the desire to take Greenland, the desire to pull U.S. troops out out of Europe as well.
WRIGHT: He has a level of hostility to Europe and to NATO that’s quite visceral. And he picks all of these fights, and yesterday he talked about Greenland again. He bashed on Spain. Those are the things that create a certain level of instability and new crises.
[music]
AYDINTAŞBAŞ: Hi, welcome to The Current from the Brookings Podcast Network. My name is Aslı Aydıntaşbaş, and I’m a fellow at the Foreign Policy program here at Brookings Institution. As we record this conversation on Wednesday morning, July 8th, the NATO summit in Ankara is just wrapping up.
