US national security strategy tensions rise; Trump envoy calls Europe a “museum.”
The American weekly Newsweek wrote: The US national security strategy refers to the slowdown in European economic growth and warns in an even harsher tone about what he calls the “fading of civilization” in Europe.
In this strategy, the US president questioned Europe’s political freedom and asked: “Can the country’s long-standing partners in NATO remain credible and reliable allies?”
Matthew J. Whitaker, the US ambassador to NATO, asked at a gathering in Doha, Qatar: Is Europe a dynamic economy that can grow, or is it just a museum of past memories where we only go to see the lovely drinks, cheeses and waffles?
The statements of the Trump representative emphasize Washington’s position in this security strategy and fuel European concerns about the fate of NATO and its defense issues, which have been a pressure on US military power for decades.
Newsweek wrote: The widening rift in relations between European leaders and the Trump administration has come as European countries have grown increasingly frustrated with the United States’ willingness to reach territorial agreements and compromise on other issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The move comes as the United States seeks to end the war in Ukraine, which has sidelined Europeans in the Ukraine peace talks.
US criticism of the EU intensified on Friday as the Europeans decided to impose a $140 million fine on Elon Musk’s X Network.
“The thing about our European allies is that they are wealthy countries and they should be doing more, but they haven’t,” Whitaker said in Doha. “They have spent less in the past few decades, and they should be spending more on their own defense and collective defense.”