The United States Should ‘Recommit to NATO’

Interview with Daniel Fried, a distinguished senior fellow at the Atlantic Council

On the eve of the NATO Summit in Brussels on July 11 and 12, Daniel Fried, a distinguished senior fellow in the Atlantic Council’s Future Europe Initiative and Eurasia Center, laid out what he wants from the meeting: “I want to see [the United States] recommit to NATO because it works for us.”

Fried said that US President Donald J. Trump’s criticism that European allies do not spend enough on defense is valid, but he does “mind the trashing the Alliance.”

“We are better off with it than without it,” he said of NATO.

In the course of his forty-year Foreign Service career, Fried played a key role in designing and implementing US policy in Europe after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Fried details the reasons NATO was created by the United States, why it still works for the United States, and why it’s future is key for US peace and security. See the full video of his remarks below.

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Image: U.S. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive aboard Air Force One ahead of the NATO Summit, at Brussels Military Airport in Melsbroek, Belgium July 10, 2018. (REUTERS/Francois Lenoir)