Trump attacks against NATO allies 'painful', says former NATO chief

In an interview with Euronews’ morning show Europe Today, former NATO secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Europe needs to fast become independent from US security framework, and, where possible, opt for a European-made weapons in future defence procurements.

“I consider this the worst challenge for NATO during the history of a very successful Alliance,” said Rasmussen, “We in Europe should conclude [that] we have to be able to stand on our own feet.”

“So we should strengthen our defence and build on a coalition of the willing that could build a strong European [defence] pillar,” he added.

The war in Iran has threatened Europe’s ability to restock its defences due to the heavy depletion of US military stocks it would normally purchase from. This has consequently further strained Europe’s capacity to provide enough weapons and interceptors for the Ukraine army on the battlefield against Russia.

The Pentagon is reportedly also preparing to divert weapons purchased by European countries for use in Ukraine to Iran instead.

Current Secretary General, Mark Rutte, as well as NATO’s most senior military commander, Alexus Grynkewich, pressed the urgency of Europe ramping up its own military base even more intensely in a recent meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a NATO source confirmed to Euronews.

“We should purchase weapons and ammunition where it is, right now, because time is of the essence, but [we] should [also] reduce our dependency on foreign actors like the United States, but also other countries,” Rasmussen said.

He said ultimately, Europe should not be “naive” and under some circumstances he would advise “giving preference to European weapons and ammunitions” over American-made or others.

Several European NATO countries including France have been pushing for Europe to choose European-origin defence systems over US weapons and equipment to reduce reliance on the White House as the transatlantic relationship continues to strain under the Trump administration.

Prior to his tenure as NATO Secretary General, Rasmussen was Prime Minister of Denmark from 2001 to 2009, during the height of the US war in Afghanistan in response to the September 11th attacks in the US by international terrorist network Al Qaeda.

Denmark was one of America’s most important allies during that period, with Danish casualties and deaths of military personnel on par with the US per capita. When asked about the state of relations between his home country and the US he said it’s been “painful”.

“For me, this has been a very painful process,” he said. “Since childhood, I have admired the United States. I saw the United States as a natural leader of the free world.”

“As Prime Minister of Denmark, I worked closely with the then President George W. Bush.”

“It’s been painful to conclude that we have to reduce our dependence on the United States, but that is the state of affairs today”, he added.

Rasmussen said the future of the 77-year-old NATO alliance was cast in doubt in January when Trump said he would “take” Greenland – a semi-autonomous region in the Kingdom of Denmark and the largest island in the world.

If Trump had pushed ahead with his plan it would have ultimately ended the alliance, he said.

“It was unheard of that the leader of the biggest ally within a collective defence organisation threatens another ally with the aim to grasp land by force… Had that happened, it would be the end of NATO,” he said.

Since then, relations have soured even further between Trump and his fellow NATO allies after they rejected calls to assist him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in resecuring the Strait of Hormuz after they initiated strikes against Iran in February. The Strait – one of the world’s most crucial shipping waterways transporting 20% of the world’s oil has since been closed by Iran and now a US blockade.

The leaders of the UK, Germany, France as well as Finnish President Alexander Stubb outright refused to come to Trump’s aid, saying NATO was a defensive alliance and they weren’t obliged to take part in a war of aggression.

Rasmussen says this response only angered the White House, and allowed Trump to create a narrative that NATO wasn’t there to support its allies like he claims.

But, the former NATO chief says there’s an opportunity for Europe to fix the situation by offering to assist in exchange for guarantees for Ukraine and a more stable trading relationship without fluctuating tariffs on European goods.

“Europe should use this situation as leverage to change the relationship between Europe and the United States,” he said.

“We should speak to President Trump the same way as he speaks to us, and I propose we ‘correct the mistake’ from early on and try to get the best out of this for Europe,” Rasmussen told Euronews’ Shona Murray.

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