NATO would seek early summit with Biden, if elected, envoys say
The NATO military alliance is considering a summit in March in Brussels to welcome a new U.S. president if Democrat candidate Joe Biden wins, diplomats and officials said, with a gathering in the first half of next year if Donald Trump is reelected.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-nato/nato-would-seek-early-summit-with-biden-if-elected-envoys-say-idUSKBN27514U
While the U.S.-led alliance agreed last year to hold a summit in 2021, a meeting in the spring would be an early chance to repair transatlantic ties if Biden were to be voted into the White House on Nov. 3, after a bruising four years under Trump.
Trump has said that the Western alliance is “obsolete” and some allies are “delinquent” as well as issuing a veiled threat in July 2018 to pull the United States out of the alliance.
He also announced his intention earlier this year to cut the U.S. troop contingent in Germany, faulting Berlin for failing to meet NATO’s defence spending target and accusing it of taking advantage of the United States on trade.
Biden, who leads in opinion polls, is seen in Europe as offering a shift in U.S. policy away from Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda, which has undermined European priorities on issues from climate to the Iran nuclear deal.
“Most allies want a Biden victory next month, but they would obviously work with a reelected Trump administration,” one diplomat at NATO’s Brussels headquarters said.
