TOKYO, January 28. /TASS/. EU countries must work to keep NATO’s military capabilities intact even in the event of a US exit from the alliance, Dr. Sven Biscop from the Egmont - Royal Institute for International Relations in Brussels told Kyodo in an interview.
"Whether the US acquires Greenland or not, President Donald Trump has already inflicted deep wounds on relations with Europe through his threats toward NATO allies," the expert argued. "Nobody now trusts that the United States will send troops to defend European countries. Relations of trust have been damaged at the highest political level. Now that the United States has threatened Europe, its longest-time ally, anything can happen to its Asian allies such as Japan, South Korea or the Philippines," he added.
According to the professor, the European Union should not make endless concessions to the United States in the economic sphere. He cited China, which "successfully rebuffed Washington by imposing restrictions on rare earth supplies to the United States," as an example.
"I wish the United States remained in NATO to maintain the political framework of Western unity," Biscop noted. "However, we in Europe should accelerate reforms so NATO can function militarily even without the United States," he concluded.
Last week, Trump announced that the contours of potential agreements regarding Greenland, a Danish autonomy, had been outlined following his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. The US leader has repeatedly claimed previously that his country needs ownership of Greenland to strengthen its national security and deploy a Golden Dome missile defense system.