Whether It’s Biden or Trump, Europe Knows It Must Stand Alone
- NATO summit exposed to allies that US is bound to scale back
- Diplomats and officials see US attention pivoting to China
Leaders attend a working session during the NATO Summit in Washington, DC on July 10.
Photographer: Ting Shen/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
NATO’s European members have long thought they would prefer an ailing Joe Biden to an unpredictable Donald Trump. But now they’re coming to terms with the fact that — whoever wins the election — US priorities are increasingly going to shift elsewhere.
At the same time as their summit in Washington was overshadowed by speculation on what the president’s decline means for his party’s prospects of defeating Trump in November, there were noises off-stage sharpening the visitors’ focus on what comes next.