'Buy American weapons and stay out of it' – the FT reports that NATO is pressuring the EU, which wants to break away from Washington
"There's a struggle for influence over defense industrial policy. The question is who will manage the increase in production & how this will affect the weapons EU will use in the future". A key aspect of the debate is the role US weapons should play in the rearmament process. NATO opposes the EU's 'Buy EU' approach as part of a broader industrial policy strategy.
NATO officials have reacted sharply to recent EU initiatives including plans to create a EU air & missile defense system, a so-called 'drone wall' for countries bordering Russia, & a strengthening of the EU's central military headquarters. These efforts are seen as part of VDL's desire to make rearmament a key element of her legacy.
One NATO diplomat suggested that the EC focus on areas in which it already has experience: ‘Make good trade deals and don’t interfere with transatlantic security.’
@elston_ Maybe Trump made a mistake insisting that the EU should increase its financial commitments? With that increase, comes demands, and the demands, given how stable an ally Trump has been lately, are very reasonably to end dependence on US technology as much as possible.
If the US does not change its stance, Nato will slowly disintegrate or be pulled apart into an EU centric part, and "the rest" which the US will manage, and very little cooperation between the two will exist.
@elston_ This is a very reasonable idea. It would certainly avoid a drawn out and ultimately pointless exercise.
@h4890
End NATO and let the EU defend itself.