WASHINGTON: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday (Jan 31) played down fears that a re-election of former US President Donald Trump would weaken the defence alliance as it works to ensure robust support for Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said he did not think a second Trump presidency would jeopardise US membership in NATO.
“I believe that the United States will continue to be a staunch NATO ally, regardless of the outcome of the US election, because it is in the US interest,” he said in an interview with CNN.
Republican Trump, a fierce critic of NATO when he was president, repeatedly threatened to pull out of the alliance. He cut defence funding to NATO and frequently complained that the United States was paying more than its fair share.
“I worked with him for four years and I listened carefully, because the main criticism has been about the NATO allies spending too little on NATO,” Stoltenberg said.
