Thursday

7th Dec 2023

May urges Trump to stand by Nato, beware Putin

  • May on Nato: "We must always stand up for our friends and allies" (Photo: Reuters)

British leader Theresa May defended Nato and criticised Russia in a speech in the US, while courting Donald Trump for closer ties.

May described Nato as “the cornerstone of the West's defence” and as part of a wider, rules-based world order that the US and the UK had helped to build after World War II.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Become an expert on Europe

Get instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • Trump on UK trade: "They want to talk trade, so I’ll have to handle it myself, which is OK" (Photo: Gary Skidmore)

“We must turn towards those multinational institutions like the UN and Nato that encourage international cooperation and partnership,” she said.

Speaking at a Republican Party symposium in Philadelphia, she noted that Nato was deploying a new Russia-deterrent force in the Baltic region.

“Whether it is the security of Israel in the Middle East or the Baltic states in eastern Europe, we must always stand up for our friends and allies”, she said.

She advised US president Donald Trump to “engage but beware” of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

“We should engage with Russia from a position of strength”, she said.

“We should not jeopardise the freedoms that president Reagan and Mrs. Thatcher brought to eastern Europe by accepting president Putin's claim that it is now in his sphere of influence”, she added, invoking the names of US and British leaders from the Cold War era.

May, the first foreign head to visit the US after Trump’s election, is to hold official talks with him in Washington on Friday.

Trump, who also spoke in Philadelphia, focused on his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border and joked about a post-Brexit US-UK trade treaty.

“I’m meeting with the prime minister tomorrow, as you know, Great Britain. So I'm meeting with her tomorrow. I don't have my commerce secretary. They want to talk trade, so I’ll have to handle it myself, which is OK,” he said.

May’s speech comes after Trump, in earlier remarks, attacked Nato and the EU and said he might endorse Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.

He also said he would put “America first” in his trade and foreign policy.

The British leader on Thursday acknowledged some of Trump’s Nato criticism.

She said European countries should increase defence spending to reduce the burden on the US. “Countries cannot outsource their security … to America and they should not undermine the alliances that keep us strong by failing to step up”, she said.

She said “if the countries of the European Union wish to integrate further, my view is that they should be free to do so”.

But she said the UK was preparing for a hard exit from the EU, in order to “take back control” of immigration and to “restore our parliamentary sovereignty”.

Great victory, new age

She said the UK and US should upgrade relations in what she called a “new age” in world affairs.

She said that a UK-US trade treaty would “see us taking that next step in the special relationship that exists between us.”

Trump has also drawn criticism for his anti-Muslim remarks, climate change scepticism, and for his endorsement of torture by US security services.

May told British media on the flight to Philadelphia that her views on the illegitimacy of torture “won't change - whether I am talking to you or talking to the president”.

She said in her speech that the “peaceful religion of Islam” was different from the “hateful ideology” of jihadism, but she declined to confront Trump on values, while praising his “great victory” in the US elections and his vision of a “new era of American renewal”.

Her approach to Trump is different from France and Germany, who have raised the alarm on his threats to Western solidarity.

British experts also fear that May might go along with Trump in future even if he splits from EU policy on Russia or the Middle East.

“If America eases up on Russia, Britain will be under heavy pressure to pick the United States, not to side with [German chancellor] Merkel,” Robin Niblett, the director of Chatham House, a London-based think tank, told the New York Times.

“The UK, which traditionally sees itself as upholding the spine of Europe toward Russia, is pulling itself out of that role,” he said.

Brexit bill

Back in London, Brexit came one step closer to reality on Thursday with the publication of a “European Union Notification of Withdrawal Bill.”

The legal act empowers May to formally notify Brussels of “the United Kingdom’s intention to withdraw from the EU”.

Explanatory notes attached to the brief text also say Britain will quit Euratom, a separate legal entity from the EU, that governs cooperation between Europe’s nuclear industries, the Financial Times newspaper reported.

The bill is expected to fly through the lower house of parliament, where May has a 16-seat majority, by early February.

It is designed to be enacted by the end of March, but could face delays in the more EU-friendly House of Lords.

Trump pledges US-first foreign policy

Economic protectionism and war on Islamist terrorism will form the heart of US foreign policy, Trump has said. He did not rubbish Nato, but indicated interest in a new Russia alliance.

Europeans in US 'not optimistic'

EU diplomats in Washington say getting access to the Trump administration is difficult and are concerned by Trump's trade and Russia policies.

Brexit Briefing

Brexit Britain cannot rely on Trump's trade vows

Theresa May came away from her meeting with Donald Trump bearing the promise of a future UK-US trade pact. The pledge was rich in symbolism, but not much else.

Latest News

  1. EU suggests visa-bans on Israeli settlers, following US example
  2. EU ministers prepare for all-night fiscal debate
  3. Spain's Nadia Calviño backed to be EIB's first female chief
  4. Is there hope for the EU and eurozone?
  5. Crunch talks seek breakthrough on EU asylum overhaul
  6. Polish truck protest at Ukraine border disrupts war supplies
  7. 'Green' banks lend most to polluters, reveals ECB
  8. Tense EU-China summit showdown unlikely to bear fruit

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  3. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  4. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?
  5. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  6. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  3. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  4. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA
  5. Nordic Council of MinistersGlobal interest in the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations – here are the speakers for the launch
  6. Nordic Council of Ministers20 June: Launch of the new Nordic Nutrition Recommendations

Join EUobserver

Support quality EU news

Join us