The unofficial senior meeting between the EU and the British Prime Minister and the Secretary -General of NATO has not helped these two blocks have solutions for new challenges.
Secretary General NATO Mark Rutte (left) and President of European Parliament Roberta Metsola in Brussels on January 13
Mr. Trump has not imposed a commercial protection tariff for the EU and has not officially asked NATO members to increase the annual defense budget to 5% of GDP as stated. But Mr. Trump did not hide his determination for this. Mr. Trump has never showed signs of importing EU and NATO.
Therefore, the problem that now the EU and NATO must solve is to handle relations with the United States in the time when Trump rules in the United States, how to support Ukraine in case Mr. Trump stops or significantly reduces aid to Kyiv. The problem is also dealing with Russia when President Trump establishes his own personal relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. NATO and the EU must take care of the security of members in Europe in case Trump reduces the US’s commitment to ensuring security for allies in Europe.
The EU and NATO are still stuck because although agreeing on the solution orientation, it is not possible to ensure feasibility. Internal members do not agree on financial contributions to the defense and general security. These two blocks have no way to replace the United States in supporting Ukraine. The EU and NATO identified the books to avoid conflict with Mr. Trump and be more independent of security, while ready to respond resolute when Mr. Trump was aggressive. Because the difficulty lies in the specific implementation stage, the EU and NATO NATO discuss a lot but still deadlock.