Trump bends Europe before meeting Putin

Correspondent Brussels

Donald Trump defies the uses, but he is less unpredictable than obstinate. A second rant against the inadequacy of European military spending has pushed Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel to admit that the head of the White House is not completely wrong and it is time to respond by acts

The summit of NATO, punctuated by the tweets and invectives of the American president, ended as it had begun: a long American tirade, behind closed doors this time, and directly addressed "to you, Angela!" . The author later admitted that "it was a little stiff. […] I made them understand that I was really angry "about the inability of Germany and a few others to raise their military credits to 2% of GDP as promised.

" I believe in NATO "

The Atlantic Alliance's annual conclave saw the two worlds telescope, as at the G7 in Quebec last month. On the one hand, the sphere of European diplomacy, polished and anxious to round the angles to disguise the reality. President Macron was trapped here Thursday morning describing for the press "a soothing atmosphere" at the exact time the American was reloading his rifle. And on the other side, the chaotic and brutal world of Donald Trump with his about, his shortcuts, his anathemas and the paradigm of "America first". Once again, he accused Germany, a symbol of success in the EU, of flourishing at the hands of the Pentagon and the American taxpayer.

The result is a breakthrough for the White House, even though many Allies are worried about the chronic instability caused by the "commander-in-chief" against Vladimir Putin, which he will meet Monday in Helsinki. One can doubt the "immense progress" that Trump hailed at the time of departure. The allies have not even raised its staggering demand to bring military credits to … 4% of GDP.

The approval emanates rather from Emmanuel Macron, when he judges that the Alliance appears "much stronger" of the test because the American president "reaffirmed his commitment for a strong NATO ". It comes mainly from Angela Merkel, who concedes that her country will have to give her defense more than what is written in her budget estimates. She comes from very low. Germany will spend 1.24% of its GDP this year on military credits, against 1.81% in France, 2.14% in the United Kingdom and 3.5% in the United States, according to the latest estimates of NATO

It will be up to the exegetes of Trumpism to ascertain whether or not the American president went in camera to threaten to leave NATO to achieve his ends. On Thursday morning, the rumor rocked the backstage. Direct witness, President Macron denied it. Just like the person himself: "There was no need to go that far," he says. I believe in NATO. "

There was no need to remind the twenty-eight other Heads of State and Government sitting at the North Atlantic Council table: when Americans more than 70% of the Western military effort, it is Europe that needs the United States and not the other way around. If the EU is one day to have a respectable defense, then Germany, Italy, Spain, Benelux and Central Europe should be doing as well as France, the United Kingdom, United Kingdom and the countries on the front line like the Baltic States, Poland, Romania and Greece.

For Europeans, there is another lesson to be learned: Donald Trump takes pleasure in breaking the routines, but he rarely does it without warning. Germany has been in the line of fire for months. After the settlement of accounts with NATO, Trump engages the following battle: trade negotiations which will begin July 25 with the invitation to the White House of Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission. Just before leaving Brussels, Donald Trump threw him the gauntlet: if the EU refuses to discuss "in good faith", the United States will hit its car industry with prohibitive tariffs, themselves known to long time