Recently, Trump experienced unprecedented success at a major NATO summit, which was rather surprising, given the mutually disagreeable relationship between both.
However, what was even more surprising was the fact that the NATO chief referred to Trump as “Daddy” … a rather startling pronouncement, to put it mildly.
However, it would appear that Trump remains displeased with one fairly populous NATO member – Spain.
According to a report from Politico, Trump made it rather clear that he is displeased with Spain’s approach to defensive spending, strongly implying that the nation will pay the price via the trade war.
“We’re negotiating with Spain on a trade deal and will make them pay twice as much. I’m serious about that,” Trump fumed.
Spain reportedly “refused” to accept the 5 percent spending target for NATO, which multiple other nations purportedly agreed to over the course of the recent summit.
And that agreement appears to have had a stark impact on Trump’s public pronouncements in the EU.
“I left here differently … I left here saying that these people really love their countries. It’s not a rip off, and we’re here to help them protect their country,” Trump asserted.
And it would appear that part of that attitude is mutually shared by NATO leadership.
“Daddy has to sometimes use strong language,” NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte remarked, rather irreverently referring to the American president by a common colloquialism.
On his part, however, Trump seemed to love it.
What he does not love is apparent defiance towards him, and while Spain may have irked him over defensive spending, the Mediterranean nation likely irked him even more by running to China as soon as the trade war began.
Per a report from Reuters, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s first response to Trump’s trade war was to run off to China in an effort to negotiation with Chinese President Xi Jinping instead.
Naturally, Xi was all too eager to wedge his way even more deeply into the EU.
“China has always regarded the EU as an important pole in a multipolar world, and is one of the major countries firmly supporting the EU’s unity and growth … China and the EU should fulfill their international responsibilities, jointly safeguard the trend of economic globalization and the international trade environment, and jointly oppose unilateral acts of bullying,” Xi asserted.
Uh huh. A “multipolar world” that will inevitably became unipolar – with China at the top – if Xi has anything to do with it.
On his part, Sanchez seemed to suggest that the United States and China were on equal footing economically.
“Trade wars aren’t good – the world needs China and the [United States] to talk,” Sanchez asserted.
Or the world needs less extreme trade imbalances … especially with nations whose norms are antithetical to liberty and freedom.
Even Sanchez admitted that the current arrangement between China and the EU is not exactly fair.
“We believe there are opportunities to deepen relations, but it’s important that China shows sensitivity to European demands for more balanced relations,” Sanchez admitted.
“More balanced” is a rather nice way to put it … considering the estimated deficit is well into the hundreds of billions.
Sanchez also admitted that China is a “partner for cooperation, an economic competitor and a systemic rival.”
Something suggests that the latter two descriptions are likely the most accurate.
Author: Jane Jones
