[ad_1]
One started his day insulting his allies and the reporters in the room. The other, emphasizing the importance of NATO to protect the "democratic principles" of Western countries. The gap between Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau has grown larger than ever, on the first day of an international meeting marked by division and twists in Brussels.
The American president set the tone in the early minutes of the summit. during a breakfast with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
Donald Trump began by wishing journalists a good day – including the producers of " fake news " – saying, shortly after, "surprised" to see so many "good people" in the room.
Donald Trump then embarked on a strong tirade against Germany. He accused the European giant of being "totally controlled by Russia" because he buys "a big part of his energy" there. The participants in this meeting, dumbfounded, made great efforts to remain stoic in front of the cameras.
"They [les Allemands] pay billions of dollars to Russia and we must defend them against Russia […]. It's not normal, "he said angrily.
The journalists were expelled from the meeting after a few minutes of taking pictures, as is the tradition in these major international events
Trudeau meets Trump
Arrived in Brussels on Tuesday night with a large delegation, the Canadian prime minister had no official head-to-head with Donald Trump. The two men had not seen each other since the G7 fiasco in Charlevoix, when Trump denied the final communiqué of the summit by covering his counterpart with insults on Twitter.
The two men appeared distant during televised events, including the classic "family photo" taking place in front of NATO headquarters. They finally had a discussion on the margins of the summit, said the PMO late in the afternoon.
They discussed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) negotiations and the Election of a new government in Mexico, but it is unclear whether this exchange lasted a few seconds or minutes. The tone of the conversation has not been clarified by the cabinet of Justin Trudeau.
Trudeau applauded
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister appeared in the headliner of a round table organized parallel to the summit. Accompanied by Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland and Defense Minister Harjit Sajjan, he extolled the virtues of NATO and multilateralism – diametrically opposed to those of Donald Trump.
Justin Trudeau also wanted to deliver in perspective how to calculate the financial participation of the 29 member countries of the alliance. They are committed to spending 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) in their respective military budgets by 2024 (a target that Canada is far from meeting), which will represent an overall increase of $ 266 billion. However, this 2% ratio should not be the only measure to be taken into account when calculating a country's real commitment to transatlantic defense, Trudeau believes.
Prime Minister recalled that Canada, one of the founding nations of NATO in 1949, had taken part in all the missions of the alliance during the last six decades. He took the opportunity to announce the launch of a new Canadian-controlled mission in Iraq next fall, which earned him applause in the hall.
"Many people talk about the 2%, but announce a contribution is not as important as demonstrating results, "he said.
Military spending: Trump wants 4%
While some had lost hope of seeing the allies of NATO to reach agreement this week in Brussels, the 29 member countries issued in the early evening a joint statement in 79 points. They affirm, among other things, their desire to harden the tone against Russia and the terrorist threat, in addition to reconfirming their intention to reach the target of 2% of GDP in military spending by 2024.
Faithful to his usual, Donald Trump has launched a new pavement in the pond after this announcement. Even though he signed the declaration that stated the figure of 2% in black and white, he asked NATO members to raise the target of military spending to 4%, confirmed in the early evening the White House
This demand, which would translate into hundreds of billions of additional expenses for the NATO member countries, suggests new spurts in the coming months.
Another change signed Trump: it appeared all smiles in a common press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the afternoon, a few hours after having shot down her country in flames about Russia. He described the US-German relationship as "unbelievable" (19459004) terrific (19459005), one of his favorite qualifiers.
M. Trump again changed course a few hours later, criticizing on Twitter German supplies of Russian gas and shooting red on countries that have not yet reached the target of 2%. The President does not digest that Germany wants to source natural gas from Russia through the controversial Nord Stream 2 pipeline project.
"Excessive" reaction
What can allies deal with these unpredictable shots of the former reality show star? Nothing, unfortunately, says Stephen Saideman, a professor in the Department of International Affairs at Carleton University, who was in Brussels on Wednesday.
"Members can not do much," he observes. Trump has his own temper, he reacted excessively to what happened in Charlevoix. If he faces any criticism, he reacts excessively, and even when he is not criticized, he reacts excessively. "
The NATO summit will end on Thursday. The next meeting of alliance members will take place in two years. Justin Trudeau will take stock of Canadian participation during a press conference in Brussels in the early afternoon, before returning to Ottawa in the evening.
New Canadian Mission in Iraq
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took advantage of the NATO summit to announce a new Canadian mission to Iraq. Canada will assume command of this NATO Defense Training and Development Mission starting next fall, for a period of at least one year. Some 250 members of the Canadian Forces will be involved. It will not be new staff, but rather resources of the present IMPACT mission in Iraq, which will be redeployed for training purposes.
Canada already has several hundred soldiers in Iraq – up to 850, according to the government – involved in a combat mission against the Islamic State group. "This mission represents the next step for Canada following the successful fight against Daesh [acronyme arabe de l’EI] to help restore institutional capacity in Iraq and lay the foundation for lasting peace and stability," said Prime Minister's Office in a statement.
Ottawa will not inject new money into this training operation in Iraq, but instead reallocate $ 40 million to IMPACT
[ad_2]
Source link
