Tensions within NATO over the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure allies on defense spending reflect “growing pains” rather than a crisis, the U.S. ambassador to the alliance told CNBC on Monday.
“The goal is for Europe to take over the traditional defense of the continent,” he said. “We’re not withdrawing, we’re just scaling back,” Ambassador Matthew Whitaker said of U.S. involvement in European defense and security ahead of this week’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Ankara, Turkey.
Whittaker said the current tensions between European governments over defense spending are “growing pains”.
“I think these are just the challenges we have been dealing with,” he said, highlighting the disparity in defense spending by European countries, including those he called “laggards” who must strive to increase their numbers over the next decade.
At last year’s NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, allies agreed to a defense spending target of 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035, including 3.5% of core defense spending.
This was widely seen as a breakthrough for the transatlantic alliance and came after years of pressure from Washington.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the challenge ahead was to “translate Allied commitments into concrete results” as heads of state met in Ankara on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Security analysts said the summit would be centered around “burden shifting,” with allies considering how to organize their defenses without the United States at the center.
This comes after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced a review of U.S. forces in Europe in June, warning that allies that don’t meet spending commitments could face consequences.
Rutte told a news conference on Monday that the United States was “bringing NATO closer together” and said it was “prudent” to regularly review defense spending.
Rutte said NATO allies must transform economic tools into military power, overcome a fragmented defense industry and cut red tape. He also said that “tens of billions of dollars in new contracts” would be announced at the summit.
Mr Whittaker highlighted his insight into how Germany, Poland, the Baltic States and Denmark deal with security challenges.
Most European countries have significantly increased their defense spending in response to years of US security. However, some countries, such as the UK and France, face more difficult budget trade-offs and fiscal constraints than others.
“NATO and our allies were asleep,” Whitaker said. “We brought it back and now we’re just seeing what that process is.”
