Europe is concerned by Trump’s renewed criticism of NATO and the EU

On Friday, Donald Trump will become president and commander in chief. And top officials in Europe say they are "deeply concerned" by his latest remarks on NATO, Russia and the European Union.

Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said after meeting in Brussels on Monday with colleagues from across Europe, that they were "agitated and astonished" by his latest comments.

Trump said in an interview with two European newspapers that:

• NATO is obsolete.
• He would consider lifting sanctions on Russia imposed after its annexation of Crimea.
• He believed other nations would follow Britain's example and leave the European Union.

Just for good measure, Trump also slammed German Chancellor Angela Merkel for what he called her "catastrophic" decision to provide sanctuary to a million refugees.

"I'm in London today, and I've talked to a number of senior people, and they're just befuddled by this, and very, very concerned," says Nicholas Burns. Burns was a career diplomat who served as undersecretary of state for George W. Bush. Burns was also an adviser on Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign (he wrote about his support for her here). He now teaches diplomacy and international politics at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

"We’re beginning to hear things from the Europeans that we haven’t heard since the Second World War," says Burns. "Since then, the United States has led the Western alliance and NATO, and now some of the leaders are worried that if Donald Trump is not going to be the leader of NATO, 'if he doesn’t believe in us, if he’s going to weaken the alliance, or openly argue for the end of the European Union, which is the great European project since World War II,' they’re thinking, 'do we have to go our own ways? Do we have to create separate understandings between countries.'"  

The Western alliance is in uncharted territory. “We’ve never been on this type of terrain,” says Burns.

“I certainly believe — as a career diplomat who worked for Republicans as well as Democrats — that the great power differential between the United States and Russia is NATO,” says Burns. “NATO has been the embodiment of American interests since Harry Truman — and that we have always perceived the security of the United States and Canada to be indivisible from that of Europe. Trump, at least, is calling that into question right now. So, big changes might be underway once he takes office.”

Trump criticized NATO on the campaign trail, and also praised the British vote to leave the EU. But many in Europe believed that rhetoric would subside after the election. It hasn’t.

Burns says NATO has provided security for 500 million people for 70 years, and is still relevant in the war on terror and in countering Russian adventurism.

“I worry most that if the United States doesn’t remain constant and strong, and a good ally to the countries of Europe, that [Russian president Vladimir] Putin will try to take advantage of that, and divide the alliance.”

“Look what Putin’s done in the last eight years. He invaded Georgia and Ukraine, annexed Crimea. He’s been threatening the Baltic states. The way to ensure the peace is for the US to remain and be strong. If we back off from NATO, then I think that gives Putin an opportunity for adventurism that would be very contrary to American and European interest.”

Burns acknowledges Trump is correct in stating that many NATO countries are not spending the agreed 2 percent of the gross domestic product on defense. But he says it’s dangerous to try to spook them into paying up. “NATO is vital for us, and shall be in the future.”

Trump’s criticism of the EU also hit home. “That is certainly not obsolete,” says Burns. “This is the governing structure of 27, 28 European countries. That project, of course, has had a number of problems, but it’s the project that brought France and Germany together after the Second World War.” That was a conscious effort by both states to end two centuries of hostility between Paris and Berlin.

“For the United States — or for the president-elect — to openly root for countries to leave the EU is being taken as a very unfriendly act.”