British PM says Trump ‘recognizes importance of NATO’

Although president says alliance is 'obsolete,' May asserts he is committed to 'prosperity and security of people on both sides of Atlantic'

By AFP 21 January 2017, 8:20 am
British Prime Minister Theresa May speaks in central London on January 9, 2017. (AFP/Pool//Dan Kitwood)

LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday that she believed US President Donald Trump “recognizes the importance and significance of NATO,” despite him days earlier dubbing the military alliance obsolete.

In an interview with the Financial Times newspaper, May said: “I’m also confident the USA will recognize the importance of the cooperation we have in Europe to ensure our collective defense and collective security.”

The British premier is expected to visit Trump in the spring, according to Downing Street, although the FT reported that she could go to Washington as early as next month.

Meanwhile May congratulated Trump after he took office on Friday.

“From our conversations to date, I know we are both committed to advancing the special relationship between our two countries and working together for the prosperity and security of people on both sides of the Atlantic,” she said.

“I look forward to discussing these issues and more when we meet in Washington.”

President Donald Trump leaves the President’s Room of the Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2107, after he formally signed his cabinet nominations into law. He is joined at far left by his wife, first lady Melania Trump and daughter Tiffany Trump. At far right is Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, with White House counsel Donald McGahn, second from right. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, Pool)

Earlier this week, before he was sworn in as president, Trump told two European newspapers he had long warned that NATO had “problems.”

“Number one, it was obsolete, because it was designed many, many years ago,” he said, referring to its Cold War, post-World War II origins.

“Number two, the countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to pay.”

In his inaugural address on Friday, Trump said the United States had “subsidized the armies of other countries,” highlighting a common cause of friction in the 28-nation alliance.

In response to Trump’s reported remarks about NATO earlier in the week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Europe has to take responsibility for itself.

Meanwhile British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said billions of people were wishing Trump success in the “very great challenges” ahead of him.

“We in the United Kingdom will work hand in glove for the stability, the prosperity and the security of the world with President Donald Trump,” he said in a statement.

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