Will Trump’s ‘Tough Love’ Win Over NATO Allies?
Kevin Rudd on FOX News
On June 11, 2018, ASPI President Kevin Rudd spoke with Fox News about President Trump’s NATO remarks, as well as trade tensions with Europe and China.
Rudd explains that while the Europeans are on target to hit their spending goals by 2024, the “sense of urgency about the need to lift NATO defense expenditures” is a result of “Russian military action in Ukraine as well as a whole series of other developments in the wider European strategic theatre.”
Rudd suggests that instead of excoriating NATO allies on defense spending and trade, it might be more valuable for the United States to “link with the Europeans in challenging some of the unfair global practices of our Chinese friends.” With regard to China, Rudd believes that retaliatory investment measures would be more strategic because “you can take a much harsher line” than with trade tariffs. (5 min., 20 sec.)