How Trump’s NATO ambassador pick could bring ‘pressure tactics’ to the alliance – National
President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of former deputy attorney general Matt Whitaker to serve as the US ambassador to NATO could signal a way to deal with “bullying” about the military alliance he has long criticized, analysts say.
That could present both weaknesses and opportunities for Canada, which has been under increasing pressure to meet its defense spending obligations, those experts added. That pressure is expected to continue under the new Trump administration, whose representative to NATO recently arrived in an alliance that fully aligns with his president’s worldview.
“Appointing a credible candidate with limited foreign policy experience and expertise may signal (Trump’s) intent to continue advancing his confrontational and one-sided agenda,” Erika Simpson, associate professor of international relations at Western University, told Global News by email.
If Whitaker is confirmed, Simpson said he might bring “tough rhetoric, pressure tactics, America First tactics that undermine the principles of consensus and federal cooperation.”
In a social media post after Trump’s announcement Wednesday, Whitaker said he “looks forward to strengthening relationships with our NATO allies and standing firm in the face of threats to Peace and Stability.”
Whitaker was the U.S. attorney in Iowa and served as acting attorney general between November 2018 and February 2019 as special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election meddling drew to a close. He served as chief of staff to Trump’s first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, before being named his boss after Sessions was fired over his decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation.
Whitaker has been a vocal critic of the U.S. Department of Justice he has led, especially in defending Trump from the four charges against him. He has little experience in foreign policy or national security, making him a relative unknown to many in US security circles.
His appointment as a NATO ambassador still needs to be confirmed by the US Senate. If approved, it would break precedent under previous presidents of diplomatic, political or military service.
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But David Welch, a political science professor at the University of Waterloo who studies foreign policy, says Whitaker’s lack of apparent qualifications for the job “fits a pattern” with Trump’s cabinet appointments prioritizing “support” and people he “thinks he can control.” “
“He is not in a position to give Trump proper advice on NATO issues,” he said in an interview. “That would be an important task for the NATO ambassador to report to advise the leader. And he can’t do that.”
Trump’s first NATO ambassador, former US senator from Texas Kay Bailey Hutchison, was a defender of the alliance during and after his administration, including the need for American leadership within it. Although he had no diplomatic experience, he was heavily involved in foreign policy matters in the Senate.
For years, Trump has targeted NATO and members who do not meet the alliance’s target of spending at least 2 percent of GDP on defense. Earlier this year, Trump said that, when he was president, he warned NATO allies that he would “encourage” Russia to “do whatever the hell it wants” to “rebellious” countries.
Former Trump administration officials, including his former national security adviser John Bolton, say Trump may push to withdraw the US from the alliance.
Whitaker’s appointment at least suggests that Trump “will be changing (the United States’) commitment to NATO,” said Steven Lamy, a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California.
“Whitaker is not nominated to lead a renewed commitment to NATO and Ukraine,” he wrote. “Trump does not like the spending and, more importantly, the Article 5 commitment” to mutual protection in the event of an attack on any member.
In an interview with Fox News during the 2019 NATO summit, Whitaker criticized alliance members who “took advantage of the United States” by not meeting the NATO benchmark, which he said allowed those countries to “support contactless medicine and other tests.”
Although he saw that the US, as a major military power of democracy, “will always have to spend more than our fair share to make sure that democracy and freedom are protected around the world, at the same time that does not mean that the people who are with it should ride on our coattails.”
He said Trump, who was president at the time, was “using that idea” within the coalition.
NATO says its 23 member states are currently meeting the two percent GDP target, up from just three in 2014. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has prompted increased military spending by many European members, with Sweden and Finland both joining the deal after the deal. war.
Biden took credit for pressuring his allies to increase their defense spending, but so did Trump.
The US has long exceeded NATO’s benchmark and currently spends 3.38 percent of its GDP on defense.
Canada is one of only eight members that does not reach 2 percent. Its revised defense policy forecasts an increase from 1.37 percent of GDP currently to 1.76 percent by 2030.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed this year that Canada’s defense spending would reach 2 per cent by 2032, although a parliamentary budget official last month said the government’s plan to achieve that was unclear.
While that may cause friction with NATO and future Ambassador Whitaker, Welch said Trump’s nominee to be the US ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra, was the right choice to help ease diplomatic pain points between the two countries.
If Whitaker is vindicated and pushes Trump’s tactics, Simpson said it will require strong consoling from NATO members, he said.
“Canada has long appreciated the procedures established by the alliance and the conduct of officials so I hope we will see a respectful response from Canada as a NATO founder and not too many ‘I’m sorry,'” he wrote.
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