NATO Secretary -General reduces the threat of trade war between the United States and Canada – a founding member of the Western Military Alliance – as a disagreement that can be managed.
Mark Root, the former Netherlands Prime Minister who was appointed to a senior political position in last fall, spoke on Monday in Brussels alongside British Prime Minister Kiir, after a meeting between the two.
“I am fully convinced that we can deal with these issues, and there are always issues between the allies,” Root said at a joint press conference.
“There are always problems, sometimes larger, sometimes smaller. But I am fully convinced that it will not hinder our collective design to keep our deterrence strong.”
NATO Secretary -General Mark Roti in Brussels on Monday was asked about issues between NATO allies – including customs tariff issues between Canada and the United States, as well as tense relations between Denmark and the United States on Greenland. Roti said it is a ridiculous thought “to think that you can manage the Defense Organization across the Atlantic without the United States
For the coalition that is proud to bring a unified front to Russia, the past few days – up to the past few weeks – have not been nice.
US President Donald Trump ordered a 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods during the weekend, and suggested that he would use “economic power” to accommodate Canada as part of the Union. On Monday, he kept the annexation speech.
“Look at what I would like to see is that Canada become our 51st case,” he told reporters at the Oval Office.
“Some people say this will be a long chance. If people want to play the game properly, it will be 100 percent certain that they will become a country.”
The threat of tariffs for 30 days was stopped on Monday, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump agreed to a series of border measures aimed at eliminating American concerns about the flow of illegal and fentian immigrants.
Separately, before its opening in the second term, Trump revived the desire from his first term in his position to the Greenland supplement, an independent and semi -independent island in the North Pole in North America that belongs to Denmark. The president recently spoke with the Danish Prime Minister and even Trump himself admitted that the conversation went badly.
The President also threatened to impose a tariff on European countries.
Encouraging attacks on allies
While running for him almost a year ago, Trump launched a wide against allies who do not meet by 2 percent of the aesthetics of local products spending, saying that he would “encourage” Russia to attack members who have not fulfilled their financial obligations. Later on the campaign, the observation is described as a form of negotiation to obtain allies on the dowry.
Canada is among those countries that – despite the political goal – does not meet the goal. The promise to reach it by 2032 was a decision at the last minute at the Washington Summit in July, and Canada It is now working to accelerate the schedule.
Trump has a long history of complaint from NATO, accused of members of not withdrawing their weight on military spending and taking them in general as a Muslim by him that they can rely on the United States to defend them.
On Monday, Root said any idea of a European defense strategy without the United States would be a “ridiculous idea”.
Steve Sadan, a political scientist holding the Patterson chair in international affairs at the University of Carlton, said he believed that the trade war between the United States and Canada will have a profound impact on the allies.
“They will wait for their role.”
“If the United States is ready to cut its arm to empty the poison towards Canada, what will it do for countries that have less dependence on it?”
He said the fact that the Trump administration is targeting Canada and Denmark is important because both countries were “ready to bleed for the United States in Afghanistan.”
If Washington is intimidating those countries, he said, it becomes difficult for them to follow the leadership of the United States in the future.
Much of what reveals is without precedent, and admits that he is pessimistic about the future of NATO, which has recently expanded to include Finland and Sweden.
It can now imagine that the United States does not come to help its allies – or withdraw directly.
He said he said, “He never thought about NATO in this way.”
He added that there are winners with all this dispute.
“The traditional opponents of the United States are very happy at this moment,” he said.
“They are not sure exactly of the threats that will be followed, but Iran, North Korea, Russia and China, all this is great, great news for them. Because the division between Western countries is what they want, and Trump gives them to them on a dish.”