In an article for McClatchy former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said that European allies are scared to death that Trump will withdraw troops from Europe.
“They are scared to death,” former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told McClatchy. “They are worried about a very unpredictable president of the United States. They are increasingly worried he is going to do things not based on what’s in the best interest..but based solely on his vision of ‘America First.’ “
A European Defense analyst is also worried.
Magnus Nordenman, who worked as a defense analyst and a strategic planning consultant for major European defense industry companies, said European allies are “absolutely worried” after hearing Trump disparage allies of the G-7, as well as NATO members’ contributions and seeing him eager to meet Putin as well as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un.
“There is element of uncertainty in all this,” said Nordenman, now the director of the Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. “But we all need to take a bit of a breath here…and hope the president is in a good mood when he goes to Brussels.”
To this point no administration officials have confirmed that Trump is considering pulling troops out of Europe.
Trump has however, long attacked countries for not paying their fair share. Members of NATO are supposed to pay 2% of there GDP although many members do not.
2017 NATO defense spending – as percentage of GDP. pic.twitter.com/mMh5GxOZqY
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 8, 2018
