Brussels: US President Donald Trump has once again refused to explicitly endorse NATO's mutual defence pledge, instead lecturing European leaders on what he called their "chronic underpayments" to the military alliance at an event on Thursday.
Speaking at the opening of a new NATO headquarters, President Trump offered a vague promise to "never forsake the friends that stood by our side" in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks - a pledge that White House officials later said amounted to an affirmation of mutual defense.
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Trump shoves Montenegro Prime Minister
US President Donald Trump muscled himself past Montenegro Prime Minister Dusko Markovic to get to the front of the NATO pack during a photo opportunity in Brussels.
But European allies are likely to see Mr Trump's words as falling far short of the robust endorsement of NATO's Article 5 clause, the "one-for-all, all-for-one" principle that has been the foundation of NATO since it was established 68 years ago after World War II.
Instead of stressing an Article 5 commitment, Mr Trump used his remarks at the NATO headquarters to lecture and criticise the other leaders assembled behind him for not contributing 2 per cent of their countries' gross domestic product to their defence. The allied nations have agreed to do so, but have often fallen short.
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The president said he had been "very direct" with the leadership of NATO about what he said was a failure on the part of many nations to pay their fair share. "Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying," he said.
Earlier, Mr Trump, a blunt critic of the EU during his campaign for the White House, received a chilly reception from his European counterparts as they began meetings in Brussels, clashing over trade, climate and the best way to confront Russia.
The president's first meeting with the continent's leaders began with officials from the United States and Europe saying nothing to one another. After being welcomed to Brussels, Mr Trump said, "Thank you very much," but he was otherwise silent as he gazed at the cameras across the room.
Donald Tusk, who represents the leaders of the bloc's 28 member states as president of the European Council, made clear after the morning meeting that there had been several areas of disagreement.
"Some issues remained open like climate and trade," Mr Tusk told reporters shortly after the meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels. "And I am not 100 per cent sure that we can say today 'we, means Mr President and myself, that we have a common position, common opinion, about Russia'."
Mr Trump and Mr Tusk differed over the intentions and policies of President Vladimir Putin of Russia, an increasing source of anxiety in Europe in light of the country's apparent attempts to meddle in elections in Europe and the United States, and its increasingly assertive foreign policy, notably in Ukraine.
Mr Tusk expressed a far more skeptical view of the Russians in the talks, according to a person with direct knowledge of the meeting who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private.
Climate change is another bone of contention. European leaders are trying to persuade Mr Trump not to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate change accord that was ratified last year.
Mr Trump's senior advisers have been deadlocked for months over whether the United States should pull out. A pressure campaign began the previous day at the Vatican, when Pope Francis gave Mr Trump a copy of his influential encyclical on protecting the environment, and the Vatican's secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, urged the president not to withdraw from the agreement.
Did Trump just shove another NATO leader to be in the front of the group? pic.twitter.com/bL1r2auELd
— Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) May 25, 2017
Mr Trump told Vatican officials that he had not made a final decision about US commitment to the climate accord, and that he was not likely to do so until after a Group of 7 meeting in Italy this weekend, according to Mr Tillerson.
Footage of Mr Trump muscling past the leader of soon-to-be member Montenegro at the NATO summit went viral after the meeting.
A video showed Mr Trump pushing his way past Prime Minister Dusko Markovic, then confidently adjusting his suit as he emerged in the front of the group, closer to NATO head Jens Stoltenberg.
White House spokesman Sean Spicer, asked about Mr Trump moving past Mr Markovic, said he had not seen the video but assumed the US president was moving to his designated spot.
Fears over Article 5
Mr Trump's repeated refusal to endorse Article 5 as a candidate, and now as president, has raised fears among allies in NATO about whether the United States would automatically come to their defense in the event of an attack.
In an interview with The New York Times just before officially claiming the Republican nomination last July, Trump said that if he was elected, the United States would come to the defense of the Baltic States against a Russian invasion only if those small countries spent more on their military and contributed more to the alliance.
"If they fulfill their obligations to us," Mr Trump said in the interview, "the answer is yes."
Other top US officials have offered reassurances. Travelling on Air Force One this week, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters, "Of course we support Article 5." But until those words are spoken by Mr Trump, leaders of other NATO nations seem bound to remain concerned.
The New York Times with Reuters