James Stavridis, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, warned of “internal tension” in the alliance as President-elect Trump has made critical remarks about NATO in the past.
“There’ll be a lot of internal tension within the alliance,” Stavridis warned during an interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Friday.
Stavridis’s comment comes as Trump has largely touted on the campaign trail an isolationist approach when it comes to handling Ukraine and NATO, vowing to get the nearly three-year war between Russia and Ukraine settled before inauguration day. Though, his election has sparked fear of the U.S. abandoning Ukraine or pushing it to cede territory.
When it comes to NATO, lawmakers, the Biden administration and European allies have attempted to “Trump-proof” the alliance and its support for Ukraine, given the president-elect’s skepticism of NATO and America’s role in the European war. He has drawn scrutiny for threatening to pull out of the alliance, upend American support for the war in Ukraine and criticized NATO allies for not spending adequately on defense.
Trump has been openly critical of Ukraine and called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “one of the greatest salesmen” for securing billions of dollars in security aid from Washington. Though, upon Trump’s victory, Zelensky said in a speech in Budapest on Thursday that he had a productive conversation with Trump after Tuesday’s election win and expressed optimism in his leadership.
During the interview, Stavridis said that the “internal tension” will likely originate from two concerns.
“It’ll stem from two things: one is increased pressure from the Trump administration for our European allies to increase their defense spending,” he said.
“Secondly, your point Andrea, there’ll be tension about Ukraine and the way forward,” Stavridis added, citing Trumps skepticism about American support to Ukraine.
Though, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said in a post on the social platform X that he congratulated Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election, adding that his leadership from the White House will be “key” to keeping the alliance strong.
On Thursday, Putin also congratulated President-elect Trump on his election victory and said he was ready to hold discussions with the president-elect.
Stavridis and Mitchell also discussed Israel, which Trump has repeatedly signaled that he wants Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon to be finished by the time he assumes office in January. Though, Stavridis warned that what he views as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu being “confident” in Trump’s support may pose some concerns as Israel continues to push into the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
“It pushes the hope of a cease-fire and the hope of a hostage release even further away,” Stavridis said.
Though, he did mention a “ray of hope” during the interview.
“The only ray of hope I can give that would mitigate against a rise in U.S.-Chinese tensions would be that it is possible that Donald Trump is using the 60 percent tariff number, for example, as a negotiating tactic,” he said, adding that the president-elect could come in “high and hard, at least in his rhetoric” against China and then “perhaps calibrate it back.”
Stavridis added that he’s watching the Philippines “very closely,” as well.
“People don’t realize that the Philippines are a treaty ally of the United States, just like all of our NATO partners, so when we see China in the Philippines… in the South China Sea over territorial dispute, that’s a very concerning tension point that could also increase the challenges ahead,” he said.
The Hill has contacted the Trump campaign for comment.
