The Nixon DoctrinePresident Trump is often credited with being the first to pressure European members of NATO to spend more on their defense by accusing them of “freeloading” and ripping (the US) off.” However, the issue of European responsibility for their own defense was first addressed by President Richard Nixon in 1969 in an interview in Guam, where he laid out the principles of a new US policy to be applied to all nations, including NATO.These principles, formalized in National Security Memoranda, Strategic Concept documents, and Reports to Congress, have been implemented for over 50 years and are known collectively as the “Nixon Doctrine.” It consists of three points: (1) the US will honor all its treaty commitments; (2) it will provide a nuclear shield if a major nuclear power threatens a nation vital to US security; and (3) it will provide military and economic assistance, but the threatened nation must assume primary responsibility for its own defense in a conventional military war.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.The Nixon Doctrine has remained the operative rule to this day. The assurance of a US nuclear shield has been one of the major inducements for friendly nations to renounce the development of their own nuclear forces.NATO’s complianceIn 2014, US President Barack Obama first raised the issue of NATO member compliance with the Nixon Doctrine at the Wales Summit. Russia had just invaded Ukraine and occupied Crimea. Obama requested that NATO members increase their national defense spending and succeeded – without ill will or disparaging rhetoric – in securing their pledge to raise spending to 2% of their GDP. It wasn’t until 2022, under the pressure of war, that Europe reached that goal.