©Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins speaks at a rally in support of Ukraine at Norrmalmstorg in Stockholm, Sweden, December 18, 2023. TT News Agency/Henrik Montgomery via REUTERS/file Photo
By Andrew Gray
MUNICH (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s harsh comments on NATO show that Europeans should take more responsibility for their own security but will still need the transatlantic military alliance, Latvian Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins said.
Trump drew fierce criticism from top Western officials for saying that as US president he had told an unnamed leader that he would not protect countries that failed to meet NATO defense spending targets, and that he would even encourage Russia to attack them.
Karins, a former prime minister of his Baltic nation who was born and raised in the United States, said in an interview with Reuters that Trump’s comments last week were “unexpectedly cutting” but reflected broader American sentiment to which l ‘Europe should pay attention.
“Many presidents have been saying for many years that in Europe, we – being a generally wealthy society – should invest more in our defense,” Karins said Friday as she walked between events at the annual security conference in Munich.
“I think over time the United States will be less inclined to feel that it has to fully support European security,” he said.
Karins said part of Europe’s response should be to continue spending more on defense – a trend fueled by Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
He pointed out that NATO this week estimates that 18 of its 31 members will meet the alliance’s goal of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense in 2024, up from 11 in 2023.
“There is a group of us who are investing above the minimum and are planning to go to 3% and even more, given the circumstance we are in and the real threat from Russia,” said Karins, whose country borders Russia.
Karins said Europe will still need the structures and coordination provided by the US-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization for its forces to operate effectively together, as Europe is not a one-armed country.
“We have many armies with different specifications of weapons systems,” he said. “We will still need NATO to help us coordinate.”