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NATO Chief Brings Message to Trump: ‘It’s Good to Have Friends’

NATO ‘Not Capable’ of Defending Turkey’s Airspace, Minister Says

(Bloomberg) -- NATO’s chief delivered a subtle rebuke of Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy in a speech to the U.S. Congress, as the alliance’s 70th anniversary was marked more by tensions roiling the military bloc than by signs of unity.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, appearing at the invitation of congressional leaders on Wednesday, argued that the U.S. has benefited as much from the 29-member alliance as have European nations. He cited how NATO partners came to the aid of America after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, continue to fight alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan and are members of the coalition to defeat Islamic State.

NATO Chief Brings Message to Trump: ‘It’s Good to Have Friends’

“NATO has been good for Europe, but NATO has also been good for the United States,” Stoltenberg said to applause from the lawmakers. “This has made the United States stronger, safer and more secure.”

Despite the calls for unity, fissures in the trans-Atlantic alliance appeared to widen throughout the day. Turkey’s foreign minister reaffirmed his government’s plans to buy a Russian missile defense system, ignoring U.S. warnings that it could get cut out of the F-35 jet program for which it helps build parts. And Vice President Mike Pence unleashed unusually frank criticism of Germany for not spending enough on defense and for moving forward with plans to build a gas pipeline from Russia.

“It is simply unacceptable for Europe’s largest economy to continue to ignore the threat of Russian aggression,’’ Pence said at a conference celebrating NATO’s anniversary in Washington. “It’s also wrong for Germany to become dependent on Russian energy.’’

NATO’s other tensions burst into the open hours before the Stoltenberg and Pence speeches, when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the Russian S-400 missile defense system his government plans to buy is “an urgent need.” He threw in a jab at the alliance, of which Turkey has been a member since 1952, saying NATO isn’t “capable enough” of protecting Turkey’s air space.

"S-400 is a done deal -- we will not step back from this,” Cavusoglu said.

NATO Chief Brings Message to Trump: ‘It’s Good to Have Friends’

The U.S. says the Russian missile system was designed to shoot down American and allied aircraft, including Lockheed Martin Corp.’s F-35, and that Turkey’s inclusion in the program is at risk. This week, the U.S. delayed delivery of two F-35 jets to help train Turkish pilots at an Arizona base.

Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan has called Turkey’s planned purchase of the S-400 “incompatible” with the sale of F-35s, and U.S. officials have said they’re concerned that sensitive F-35 technology designed to evade such a system could be compromised and used to improve the Russian air defense system.

But Cavusoglu insisted the purchase will go ahead and that a workaround can be developed so the S-400 doesn’t pose a threat to NATO systems or the F-35. Turkey has planned to buy about 100 of the jets, joining Japan, the U.K. and Australia as the top international customers for the plane built by Bethesda, Maryland-based Lockheed.

Ties With Russia

Turkey’s move to buy the S-400 reflects a broader political shift as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan finds himself increasingly at odds with the U.S. while cultivating improved relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cavusoglu defended his country’s cooperation with Russia on matters including the war in Syria.

“We need to work together and, on Syria and other files we have been working together,” Cavusoglu said. “Turkey is supporting the dual-track policy of NATO toward Russia --deterrence and dialogue."

Stoltenberg was far more critical of Russia in his speech to Congress. The NATO alliance was created to counter Russia’s predecessor, the Soviet Union, after World War II. Stoltenberg hammered Russia for violating the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty and again for its annexation of Crimea.

“Russia has deployed new missiles in Europe,” he said. Countering Russian claims that the U.S. has violated the Cold War-era treaty, Stoltenberg added, “There are no new American missiles in Europe, but there are new Russian missiles.”

A former prime minister of Norway, Stoltenberg has proven adept at managing the complicated politics of the Trump era. He’s repeatedly praised Trump’s efforts to get European allies to spend more on defense, without echoing the U.S. president’s blunt criticism of NATO’s 28 other member states. Besides the U.S., only six of the alliance’s members were spending about 2 percent or more of their gross domestic product on defense last year, according to NATO documents.

His invitation to speak to Congress was widely seen as a bipartisan jab at Trump and his foreign policy. Stoltenberg reminded the audience that the founders of NATO created the organization to “preserve peace and safeguard freedom” jointly.

“They made a solemn promise: One for all and all for one,” he said.

New York Democrat Eliot Engel, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said “there was a subtle message in there for the president of the United States, who has at times called the NATO alliance obsolete. It isn’t obsolete. It was necessary then when it was formed, and it’s necessary now.”

Trump has recently moderated his criticism of the bloc, saying during a meeting with Stoltenberg on Tuesday that the pair was ”committed to ensuring that NATO can address the full range of threats” that it faces. At the same time, he continued his focus on the spending imbalance, saying “we really cannot rely on one nation to defend all.”

Germany’s foreign minister, Heiko Maas, said later on Wednesday that his country would meet its national target for defense spending of 1.5 percent of GDP by 2024. That’s short of what the U.S. wants.

“We made a firm commitment to invest more money in defense and we intend to keep our word,” Maas said. He added that Germany has increased defense spending by almost 40 percent since 2014. “We in Europe know we cannot take our security for granted.”

--With assistance from Laura Litvan, Daniel Flatley and Glen Carey.

To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert

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