Trump is a bigger threat to Nato than Putin, says alliance’s former commander

Donald Trump represents a greater threat to Nato than Vladimir Putin, one of the alliance’s former commanders has said in a blistering attack on Washington’s foreign policy.

The US president has sparked alarm after a series of aggressive moves this year including the capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, threats to invade Greenland, and the controversial claim that European troops in Afghanistan “were not on the front lines”.

General Sir Richard Shirreff, Nato’s former deputy supreme allied commander for Europe, said that Mr Trump’s threat of military intervention in Greenland was “absolutely not bluster” even after the US president pledged not to use force to seize the island, which is a territory of Nato member Denmark.

“We have to take him literally. We have to assume with Trump, as with Putin, that the worst case will happen,” he told The Independent. “Trump is the greater threat [to Nato] if you want to make the comparison. It’s Trump who gets the prize.”

open image in gallery

Gen Shirreff, who is now chair of the Healix International Security and Risk Advisory Board, said that Mr Trump had “destroyed the international order” in the first year of his second term. “He is also on the way to destroying the one alliance that has guaranteed transatlantic security for 77 years,” he added.

The former British army officer said that Mr Trump had presented his Russian counterpart with two of his most cherished foreign policy objectives “on a plate”.

“He has decoupled America from European security and he is effectively holding Nato below the waterline because of his threat.”

Gen Shirreff said that, while Putin poses an “existential threat” to Europe, his invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 had united Nato and “brought the international order closer together”.

open image in gallery

Mr Trump, meanwhile, has turned the global rules-based system “into a dead duck”, he added. “Clearly, Putin threatened it massively but Trump has attacked the one alliance which grants our security.”

In the US, Mr Trump has been ridiculed for what critics call a “Taco” approach to policy – meaning Trump Always Chickens Out. He has recently threatened military intervention in both Greenland and Iran, before appearing to back off and seek diplomatic solutions.

But Gen Shirreff said that the threats alone, particularly to Greenland, are enough to cause serious damage to Washington’s alliances in Nato.

“The lead nation of the alliance has threatened the territorial integrity of another member of an alliance... how do you move on and rebuild trust? Nobody will trust Trump again, and we’ve got another three years of it.”

In response to the instability, Gen Shirreff advised Nato to “Europeanise” and seek strategic and military independence from the US, particularly for the remainder of Mr Trump’s tenure.

open image in gallery

Other experts have disagreed with Gen Shirreff’s conclusion over which leader poses a greater threat to Nato.

Jon B Alterman, chair in global security and geostrategy at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that Putin’s war has had “a unifying effect” on Nato, but argued that Mr Trump was more “open to persuasion” by Nato allies.

He said the US president’s foreign policy and attacks on Nato reflected concerns held by many Americans about the role of the US abroad. Earlier this month, Mr Trump claimed he had “saved Nato” in a post on Truth Social.

“This is an old American complaint,” Mr Alterman told The Independent. “European states are now looking at alternative arrangements, and these conversations were absolutely not happening a year ago. The international order does need to rethink its response; it's been a very one-sided relationship for some.”

open image in gallery

Gabriel A Giménez Roche, associate professor of economics and finance at Neoma Business School, said that unpopularity in the polls could serve as a check on Mr Trump’s unfettered global ambitions.

“Trump’s confrontational stance toward Europe lacks strong support among the American electorate,” he says. “Polls consistently show scepticism toward antagonising allies, annexation rhetoric, and escalating trade conflicts – a sentiment that could carry electoral consequences.”

But Putin could benefit from the uncertainty by default. “If neither European firms nor American voters benefit, the answer is troubling. The primary beneficiary appears to be Vladimir Putin, whose strategic interests are served by a distracted US, a divided transatlantic relationship, and a Europe forced to reassess its dependence on Washington.”

A White House spokesperson told The Independent: “President Trump has done more for Nato than anyone. America’s contributions to Nato dwarf that of other countries, and his success in delivering a 5 per cent spending pledge from Nato allies is helping Europe take greater responsibility for its own defense.

“The United States is the only Nato partner who can protect Greenland, and the President is advancing Nato interests in doing so.”