The White House has made it clear that it wants to minimize talk at the summit about Ukraine's prospects for NATO membership.
President US Joe Biden met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday afternoon as both leaders prepared for a potentially tense NATO summit in Washington next month that will bring dozens of heads of state and possibly thousands of protesters.
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Strengthening international alliances and criticizing Trump's policies
Biden has made support for international alliances such as NATO a centerpiece of his foreign policy, increasingly seeking to contrast his worldview with that of former President Donald Trump, his presumptive 2024 opponent. But ahead of the July 9-11 summit, White House officials expect pressure from foreign leaders to give Ukraine the green light to retaliate more aggressively against Russia.
The NATO alliance expanded following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with Finland joining the alliance in 2023 and Sweden becoming its 32nd member in March. During several European trips this month, Biden argued that, contrary to the arguments of his political opponents, it would be foolish to isolate himself from the big European conflicts.
“The best way to avoid battles like this in the future is to stay strong with our allies,” Biden said during a trip to Eiche-Marne American Cemetery in France on the 80th anniversary of D-Day. “I think there's a new upsurge and sense that some in the country want to lose sight of the idea that we're becoming semi-isolationist, which is what some people are saying. … That's not true.”
His words were a not-so-subtle reference to Trump's foreign policy. Trump said he would not defend NATO allies who spend too little on their own defense, a move Biden called “dangerous” and “un-American.”
Tests for Biden
At the upcoming summit, participants will celebrate NATO's 75-year history and its decades of success as a bulwark against the Soviet Union and now Russia.
But the meeting will also be a big test for Biden, as many alliance members are unhappy with his reluctance to allow Ukraine to attack targets in Russia, while others are disappointed with his strong support for Israel's invasion of Gaza. The summit could trigger large-scale pro-Palestinian protests. Such demonstrations have broken out at nearly every international meeting and Biden speech in recent months, and a major military summit in the US capital is unlikely to be an exception.
On Monday, Stoltenberg boasted of rising European defense spending and said the continent was a strong partner for Washington in its peace efforts. He said 23 of 32 NATO members now meet the alliance's defense spending target of two percent of their country's gross domestic product, up from seven just five years ago.
“That number has more than doubled… since I took office,” Biden said during a meeting with Stoltenberg in the Oval Office. “And we look forward to continuing this progress next month.”
Stoltenberg, who has served as secretary general since 2014, has signaled that he agrees with Biden emphasizing the importance of the transatlantic alliance. “Twice when Europe was at war, the United States chose isolationism – and twice it realized that it didn't work,” he told the West Wilson Center, a foreign affairs think tank in Washington, before meeting Biden.< /p>
Impact of European elections
How those sentiments play out in daily decisions as the war in Ukraine enters its third summer fighting season will be a major topic for leaders heading to Washington. Many NATO leaders are frustrated by Biden's reluctance to give Ukraine greater freedom to strike military targets in Russia.
Last month, Biden signed authorization for Ukrainian commanders to use U.S.-provided weapons against limited military targets inside Russia, allowing them to retaliate against Russian forces that attack or prepare to attack Ukrainian soldiers in Kharkov and around it, near the border in the north. eastern Ukraine.
But a series of European elections in the days leading up to the NATO summit could weaken some countries' arguments against Biden. French President Emmanuel Macron, a leading advocate of further expansion of Ukraine's powers, could be significantly weakened by parliamentary elections. This means he will come to Washington not as a leader who will push NATO forward, but as a symbol of warning to others about the far right's potential to tilt foreign policy toward Russian interests.
With less than a week to go before the summit, the UK will also have elections and its ruling Conservative Party is expected to have a poor showing. The new government is unlikely to have a radically different policy towards Ukraine, but the new prime minister may not be ready to immediately put pressure on Biden, said Ivo Daalder, the US ambassador to NATO during the time of President Barack Obama.
“The countries most likely to push to do more for Ukraine will be significantly weakened by the European elections,” Daalder said. “This changes the situation in many ways.”
Supporting Ukraine and strengthening NATO
Biden also took a number of measures to reaffirm US support for Ukraine. Vice President Harris and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan visited Switzerland last week to attend a peace summit on Ukraine, where Harris announced more than $1.5 billion in aid for Ukraine's energy sector and humanitarian efforts.
Last week, the United States also expanded its sanctions against Russia to include Chinese defense companies helping Russia wage its war against Ukraine. And when Biden was at the G7 summit in Italy last week, he held a joint news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after both leaders signed a 10-year security agreement.
However, the White House has made it clear that it wants to minimize talk at the summit about Ukraine's future membership in NATO, offering general reassurances but not naming specific terms.
NATO leaders are expected to take other steps in the coming weeks to strengthen the alliance against potential policy changes by Trump if he wins the 2024 election. For example, they plan to shift the coordination of arms assistance to Ukraine, transferring it to NATO, and not to the US military, as is happening now.
NATO allies are also trying to show that the alliance benefits the United States, hoping to counter arguments from a wing of the Republican Party that argues that NATO and European defense in general are a drain on American resources rather than a boost to their development.
“NATO is good for American security, good for American industry and good for American jobs,” Stoltenberg said Monday. — Over the past two years, more than two thirds of European defense purchases were made from American firms. These are contracts for American defense companies worth more than $140 billion.
Debates and protests
Whatever debate unfolds at the high-level meeting is likely to be accompanied by loud protests in the street. International gatherings such as the NATO summit are often a magnet for demonstrators looking to express their dissatisfaction with the president's policies, and this has become even more so in recent months.
Since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, Biden has stressed his commitment to the country is ironclad, even as civilian casualties rise. Critics, including American liberals and many Western leaders, accuse him of supporting a scorched-earth invasion that has left more than 37,000 Palestinians dead. Biden has faced protests over his support for Israel for months – everywhere from his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, to the streets of Paris.
DC leaders have not said how many protesters are expected. Last year, in the run-up to the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, anti-NATO protests took place in several European countries. The year before last, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Madrid.
Police and city officials in Washington said they are working with federal authorities to launch a strong law enforcement response to the event, noting that they are accustomed to hosting large summits, conferences and other events with significant security needs. safety.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser will activate the city's Emergency Operations Center to help coordinate law enforcement's response to the event, officials said at a news conference last week.
Recall that United States President Joe Biden outlined the dangers facing the country if Donald Trump is elected president.
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