Brussels (Belgium) (AFP) – The “resilient” NATO alliance can weather criticism from US President Donald Trump and remains crucial to underpinning Western security in the face of Russia, Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Monday. “NATO as a defensive alliance committed to collective security could never be more important than it is today,” Anand told AFP in an interview in Brussels.
Canada’s top diplomat was meeting counterparts from the EU’s 27 nations in the latest demonstration of deepening ties as Trump has rocked the global order. Ottawa has been stepping up ties with the EU and other key partners as part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s efforts to increase cooperation between “middle powers.” “The EU is an extremely important facet of Canada’s work to diversify trade, and we will continue to build supply chains, to build trading relationships so that we double non-US trade over the next 10 years,” she said. “That ultimately has to be our goal, as we see a complete rewiring of the global trading order.”
Anand, who was also holding talks with NATO chief Mark Rutte, pushed back against the notion that Trump had fatally undermined the defence alliance. “Not at all — NATO is a resilient alliance,” she said. “It is reasonable for member states to have differing opinions, but the resilience of the organisation means that we come together, have difficult conversations, and emerge from those conversations committed to collective defence and security.” Trump has shaken the 77-year-old alliance as he has castigated European allies for their response to his war with Iran. Washington frayed nerves in Europe by saying it would pull 5,000 troops from Germany amid a dispute between Trump and Chancellor Friederich Merz.
Anand pointed at areas such as tackling Russian activities in the Arctic as important for NATO’s focus — and a region where her country has a major role to play. NATO has stepped up on the Arctic region as part of a deal with Trump to get him to drop his designs on Denmark’s territory of Greenland. “We need to take a step back and say, what are in the best interests of 32 member states from a collective security standpoint in this moment when the global threat environment is changing so rapidly,” she said.
Anand, who was co-hosting a conference with the EU on returning Ukrainian children deported by Russia, also hailed Kyiv’s “resilience” for turning around the dire situation on the battlefield. “Ukraine is still successful in defending its territorial integrity,” she said. US-led efforts to broker an end to Moscow’s war have largely gone quiet as Washington has become focused on Iran. Anand said that given Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statements, the United States still had a key role to play. “President Zelensky himself has said that it is important for the United States to stay at the table, and that the United States is necessary in this process of negotiation,” she said. “Canada’s position has always been, we support President Zelensky. His views about what is best for Ukraine are also our views about what is best for Ukraine.”
© 2024 AFP
