Trump may keep the US in NATO, but the damage is doneWhen it comes to what NATO members spend on defense, what Trump had to say was never that important, as most governments had been increasing their budgets as a result of Russian aggression before he took officeBy Marc Champion / Bloomberg OpinionFormer US president Donald Trump says he is good at negotiating real-estate deals and I do not doubt him. As he prodded Europeans to share more of the NATO burden in 2017, Trump correctly identified that what the alliance’s members valued most was its Article V collective defense clause. The good news for Europe is that when it comes to what NATO members spend on defense, what Trump had to say was never that important. In fact, after a sharp three-year run, the rate of increase in European NATO defense spending plateaued after Trump took office. No more was Trump responsible for the deceleration in real defense spending increases that happened to follow his inauguration.
