Fresh reporting in Reuters says that NATO leadership is mulling ending its practice of holding annual summits as the Trump presidency has "cast a long shadow" over such meetings and as member states are looking for "less drama".
For example, at the 2018 summit Trump threatened to walk out after bitterly complaining over allies' low defense spending. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO’s secretary general at the time, wrote in a recently published memoir, "Had he made good on his threat to leave in protest, we would have been left to pick up the pieces of a shattered NATO."
Also, in 2019 he exited summit early while lambasting then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "two-faced" after Trudeau was caught on a hot mike blasting Trump's behavior.
One report recalls of the scene:
Footage emerged late on Tuesday that appears to show world leaders joking about Trump at the summit, which has been marked by sharp disagreements over spending and future threats, including Turkey’s role in the alliance and China, as well as a clash of personalities that triggered a flurry of incendiary language being deployed by leaders.
The video shows leaders including Trudeau, Johnson, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and Princess Anne at the Buckingham Palace event on Tuesday evening.
In audio caught on a nearby microphone, Johnson asks Macron: “Is that why he was late?” before Trudeau interjects: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”
Trudeau adds: “Oh, yeah, yeah yeah. He announced … ” before he is cut off by Macron, who speaks animatedly to the group. Macron’s back is to the camera and his words are inaudible.
After an edited cut in the film, the footage later shows an incredulous Trudeau telling the group: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
In his second administration, President Trump's fierce criticisms have only grown, especially related to lack of help in the Iran war and Hormuz Strait crisis, labeling the alliance a "paper tiger" and charging member states with being "free-loaders".
One European diplomat expressed an increasingly common viewpoint among members: "Better to have fewer summits than bad summits," the official said.
And, per Reuters: "Some diplomats and analysts have long argued that annual summits create pressure for eye-catching results that distracts from longer-term planning."
The 2019 Trudeau hot mic incident:
For now at least, NATO leadership is insisting it will be business as usual and these annual summits will proceed. "NATO will continue to hold regular meetings of Heads of State and Government, and between summits NATO Allies will continue to consult, plan and take decisions about our shared security," a NATO official told Reuters. But Trump's anti-NATO rhetoric is unlikely to cease anytime soon, setting up for more drama to come.