President-elect Donald Trump is expected to continue sending military aid to Ukraine, despite Trump earlier on the campaign trail mocking Zelensky for being the "greatest salesman on earth" for his getting tens of billions of US taxpayers' money with ease.
A new Financial Times report has cited European officials who say Trump's team told them he plans to continue military aid to Kiev after his inauguration. He's reportedly trying to calm fears of an immediate US withdrawal of support, and this is connected to an expected Trump policy for NATO member states to increase defense spending to 5% of their GDP.
"Donald Trump’s team has told European officials that the incoming US president will demand Nato member states increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, but plans to continue supplying military aid to Ukraine," FT writes.
NATO's existing target of 2% of GPD for defense spending certainly has not been met by all members... not even close. The 2% is being met by only 23 of the alliance's 32 members, and so a significantly higher bar set of more than double that is certainly going to rile Europe.
European NATO leaders have long been trying to figure out how to 'Trump proof' future defense aid for Ukraine, as has the Biden administration.
But there's at least one severe critic - Hungary's Viktor Orban. He estimated in a radio interview on Friday that the US and the EU have pumped over $300 billion in financial aid and military assistance into Kiev's coffers since the war's start.
"During the negotiation with the Americans, I received the figure that Europe and America together have spent €310 billion so far. Those are huge numbers!" the Hungarian prime minister declared.
He went to describe that such a massive amount "could have done wonders" for European people themselves, instead of sinking the funds into an unwinnable war, while avoiding the necessity of negotiations with Moscow.
The 5% defense spending for NATO members could also be a 'tough' tactic as the new administration deals with NATO allies. According to more from Financial Times:
One person said they understood that Trump would settle for 3.5 per cent, and that he was planning to explicitly link higher defense spending and the offer of more favorable trading terms with the US.
“It’s clear that we are talking about 3 per cent or more for [Nato’s June summit in] The Hague summit,” said another European official briefed on Trump’s thinking.
Meanwhile...
I told the European Union that they must make up their tremendous deficit with the United States by the large scale purchase of our oil and gas. Otherwise, it is TARIFFS all the way!!!
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) December 20, 2024
Donald Trump Truth Social 01:09 AM EST 12/20/24
As for Trump pledging to keep the money flowing, this is likely for the purposes of keeping leverage on the table while planning to quickly push Kiev into negotiations with Moscow. Earlier this week, former US diplomat Jim Jatras evaluated the prospects for Trump succeeding toward achieving peace at the negotiating table, which can be accessed here.
