"I believe the UK will stand with us... but I'm not sure other countries will stand with us," reported Reuters on July 15 local time. During an interview with the BBC, US President Trump explained why he was willing to lower tariffs on some products imported from the UK, while also threatening to impose a 30% tariff on EU goods.
At the previous NATO summit, the leaders of the 32 member states had just agreed to gradually increase defense spending to 5% of GDP under pressure from the US. But this seemed to have failed to "impress" Trump. In the interview, he also said: "As I said, one problem with NATO is that we have to fight for them, but if we go to war, will they really fight for us?"
Trump also claimed that the difference between the UK and other countries on this issue is precisely why he agreed to give preferential treatment to the former in trade matters: "I'm not sure if I can say it like that, but I will say that I believe the UK will stand with us."
"You see, that's why I've reached an agreement with the UK... but when it comes to your competitors, the EU, I haven't reached an agreement with them yet," Trump added to the BBC.
Reuters noted in its commentary that the only time the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) activated Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, the collective defense clause, was after the 9/11 attacks in 2001. At that time, the UK did choose to follow the US's steps in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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