MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. US President Donald Trump’s administration views European countries as weak and incapable of self-defense, which is expressed in the new US National Security Strategy, American political commentator and radio host Steve Gill told TASS.
"The new strategy recognizes that most of the European nations are failing to protect their own countries and cultures by failing to secure their borders. Their domestic policies have created unworkable and failing economic situations that impact the whole world," said Gill, who served as a director of intergovernmental affairs for the US trade representative in the Executive Office of the President under both George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton administrations.
According to Gill, the new US National Security Strategy "puts into policy what President Trump has been saying for quite some time." "Many of the European nations were not paying their percentages for NATO protection, and under President Trump’s pressure most of them have raised their levels of spending. He also pushed for an increase in the percentages that they would be required to pay for their own defense and most have embraced, though unwillingly, that Trump path," he explained.
The expert also drew attention to the US administration’s trade policy: "Finally, Trump responded to the high protective tariffs that have been imposed on US products, goods, and services for decades by demanding parity. Trump’s tariff policies have opened markets to more US products and also generated tariff revenue that are helping to rebuild America’s infrastructure." "President Trump is recognizing realities that those in Europe and in the US have ignored for way too long," Gill concluded.
On December 8, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova noted Russia hopes that the new US National Security Strategy will have a sobering effect on the European "war party."