DER SPIEGEL: But hasn’t he been rather effective on some issues? He has forced NATO member states to increase their defense budgets. He’s tough on China, which could be beneficial not only for the U.S., but for Europe as well. And he is standing up to Iran’s military ambitions.
Rhodes: It won’t surprise you that I think absolutely not. In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Chinese are becoming the dominant power in a way that might have happened over the next 20 or 30 years. Instead, it’s happening in, like, four years, and it’s happening in part because Trump is disengaged. We don’t seem reliable anymore. Regarding NATO, he might have gotten some European countries to increase their defense spending, but they’re doing so because they want to have a more independent foreign and defense policy from the United States. He has called into question the very viability of the NATO alliance. He has done more to advance Russian aims than anything the Russians could do.
DER SPIEGEL: And yet, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is full of praise for Trump. He says that NATO member states will spend an additional $100 billion on defense by the end of next year.
Rhodes: Why are Europeans spending more on defense? In part because they need to have a hedge against the United States. If you look at France, and to a lesser extent Germany, they’re having unprecedented discussions about separate defense arrangements with other countries outside of NATO. Trump views everything as a test of his own strength, including foreign policy, but he has no strategy attached to it. In the long run, that’s going to be totally destructive to American interests.
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