BRUSSELS (AP) In a combative start to his NATO visit, President Donald Trump asserted Wednesday that a pipeline project has made Germany “totally controlled” by and “captive to Russia” and blasted allies’ defense spending, opening what was expected to be a fraught summit with a list of grievances involving American allies.
Trump, in a testy exchange with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, took issue with the U.S. protecting Germany as it strikes deals with Russia.
I have to say, I think its very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia where were supposed to be guarding against Russia, Trump said at breakfast with Stoltenberg. Were supposed to protect you against Russia but theyre paying billions of dollars to Russia and I think thats very inappropriate.
The president appeared to be referring to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would bring gas from Russia to Germanys northeastern Baltic coast, bypassing Eastern European nations like Poland and Ukraine and doubling the amount of gas Russia can send directly to Germany. The vast undersea pipeline is opposed by the U.S. and some other EU members, who warn it could give Moscow greater leverage over Western Europe.
Trump said Germany, as far as Im concerned, is captive to Russia and urged NATO to look into the issue.
Stoltenberg pushed back, stressing that NATO members have been able to work together despite their differences. I think that two world wars and the Cold War taught us that we are stronger together than apart, he told the president, trying to calm tensions.
Trump later tweeted a video of the exchange.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also pushed back as she arrived at NATO headquarters for the summit shortly before the president, insisting that Germany makes its own decisions.
Ive experienced myself a part of Germany controlled by the Soviet Union and Im very happy today that we are united in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany and can thus say that we can determine our own policies and make our own decisions and thats very good, she said.
The criticism was an unusual one coming from Trump, who has appeared eager to cozy up to Putin and who has dismissed the U.S. intelligence communitys assessment that Russia tried to undermine Western democracy by meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election to help Trump win. During the campaign, Trump often resorted to the tactic of falsely accusing his opponents of things he had been criticized for doing.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced hours after the tit-for-tat over Germany that Trump would meet later Wednesday with Merkel, as well as with French President Emmanuel Macron. Journalists will not be allowed to cover either meeting, she said.
The dramatic exchange set the tone for what was already expected to be a tense day of meetings with leaders of the military alliance. Trump is expected to continue hammering jittery NATO allies about their military spending during the summit, which comes amid increasingly frayed relations between the America first president and the United States closest traditional allies.
The United States is paying far too much and other countries are not paying enough, especially some. So were going to have a meeting on that, Trump said as he arrived at the breakfast, describing the situation as disproportionate and not fair to the taxpayers of the United States and were going to make it fair.
They will spend more, he later predicted. I have great confidence theyll be spending more.
