U.K. Ambassador on Trump NATO Criticism: We’re Leaning In to What He Wants on Strait

On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” British Ambassador to the U.S. Christian Turner responded to President Donald Trump’s criticisms of NATO by saying that Trump has been right to push on defense spending, “one of the things we should emphasize is that NATO is a defensive alliance. It is there for our shared protection. And only one time in NATO’s history has Article 5 been triggered, after 9/11.” And there is an effort “to really lean in to the President’s ask on the Straits of Hormuz.”

After Tapper and Turner talked about Trump getting Europe to boost defense spending, Tapper said, “Yeah, but now he’s talking about NATO being a paper tiger and how the U.S. doesn’t even — shouldn’t even be part of it.”

Turner responded, “Of course, one of the things we should emphasize is that NATO is a defensive alliance. It is there for our shared protection. And only one time in NATO’s history has Article 5 been triggered, after 9/11. So, look, I think it’s important that, together, what you’ll hear from ambassadors like me, from leaders in Europe, from Mark Rutte, who has been so solid on this, is, we get the need to step up, and we are doing it. What you’re seeing is this extraordinary rise in defense spend to meet this shared challenge. The other thing I would emphasize is that what we’ve seen today in Paris is an effort from — and it’s been led by my Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron — but it is to really lean in to the President’s ask on the Straits of Hormuz. So, once this blockade is done, once this deal is done, which we’re all hoping it will, we will then still need to reassure shipping that they can get through the Strait. How do we do that? Well, we’ve got 51 countries, leaders from across the world today, South Korea, Japan, Africa, Asia, the Gulf to say, we are committed to do that, we are not going to accept, as I said, tolls and restrictions in this Strait. That is going to lead to a collective military mission for de-mining, escorts, intelligence, command and control that I hope will now be able to take over seamlessly. And we’re doing it in coordination with our U.S. friends once this deal is done.”

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