New winds are blowing in the United States. Presidential candidate Donald Trump is critical of new US aid packages for Ukraine and has said he can quickly achieve a negotiated peace with Russia. Trump has also announced that Russia can do what it wants with NATO countries that do not invest enough in their own defense.
The statements have caused concern in several European NATO countries. That Trump is skeptical of NATO is not news, but statements like these, which create uncertainty about the US’s willingness to help European NATO members, directly damage confidence in the defense alliance.
Foreign Minister Tobias Billström has tried several times to play down the significance of Trump’s statements. When he and other politicians have sold NATO membership to the Swedish people, the mutual defense guarantees have been a decisive factor, i.e. if Russia attacks, the USA and NATO will immediately come to Sweden’s aid.
Therefore, Trump’s statements are a concern for all the parties in Sweden that pushed for Swedish NATO membership. Suddenly, the expected automaticity of American support can be questioned.
American support no longer as obvious
And even if Tobias Billström officially downplays the importance of Trump’s exuberant statements, there is concern in the Swedish government about what might happen with a new president.
During the NATO process, Swedish politicians have described the defense alliance as a solid wall, but with Trump in power, NATO will perhaps become rather a “sloppy curtain”, as a government representative put it in a conversation with SVT.
This uncertainty surrounding the future president of the United States, and what it may mean for Swedish security, has also come into play when representatives of the government urged the Swedish people to prepare for darker times and prepare for a possible war situation.
At the same time, Must, the military intelligence service, warns that Russia will pose a threat to Sweden for the foreseeable future.
Where the US will go under a new president is all the more unclear. The support given by the US and NATO that most Swedish politicians talked about during the NATO process may not be as obvious as previously thought.