U.S. President Donald Trump raised doubts about the U.S.’s defense commitments to NATO member states and Japan amid escalating tensions in Europe and Asia.

He made the relevant statements during a press conference at the White House.
Trump criticized the U.S.-Japan alliance, specifically the terms of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between the United States and Japan.

“We have an interesting deal with Japan, that we have to protect them, but they don’t have to protect us…. who makes these deals?” he said, adding that Japan “makes a lot of money,” referring to the trade deficit with Japan.

The security agreement, last revised in 1960, also allows the U.S. to establish and use military bases on Japanese soil.
As a result of the treaty, the United States received a kind of outpost in deterring the communist bloc during the Cold War, and continues to be vital for countering threats from China and North Korea.

Trump also questioned the reliability of NATO, specifically France’s commitment to come to the aid of the U.S. in the event of a military threat.

“If the United States was in trouble and we called them. We said, ‘We got a problem, France.’ Do you think they’re gonna come and protect us? Hmm. They’re supposed to. I’m not so sure,” he said, casting doubt on NATO’s collective defense obligations.

However, in NATO’s history, the principle of collective defense has been invoked only once, specifically to defend the United States, which became the target of terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Less than 24 hours after the attacks, the allies invoked the principle of Article 5 of the Alliance’s charter, actively engaged in the fight against terrorism, and launched their first operations outside the Euro-Atlantic area.

The president also commented on journalists’ questions about the new policy regarding “NATO countries that do not pay”, referring to recent calls for the North Atlantic Alliance to increase public defense spending to 5% of GDP in peacetime.

Trump also addressed journalists’ questions about NATO defense spending, reiterating his stance on countries that do not meet spending targets. “If they don’t pay, I’m not gonna defend them,” he stated, referring to his call for NATO members to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP in peacetime.

It is worth recalling that these days the Chinese Embassy in Washington stated that China was ready to wage “any type” of war with the United States in response to President Donald Trump’s increase in trade tariffs on imports from Beijing.

Amid this, the Chinese Embassy in Washington stated that China was prepared to wage “any type” of war with the U.S. in response to Trump’s decision to increase trade tariffs on Chinese imports.