美国国家公共电台 NPR Trump, In A 180-Degree Switch, Says NATO 'No Longer Obsolete'

 

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

President Trump¹ has been meeting at the White House today with the secretary general of NATO. On the campaign trail, Trump questioned the modern-day relevance² of the military alliance between Western powers. It was, after all, formed almost 70 years ago in response to the former Soviet³ Union. But White House officials say in today's meeting, the president planned to take a different tone, reaffirming the U.S.'s ironclad commitment to NATO.

Now for more, NPR's Scott Horsley joins us from the White House. And Scott, officials say that the president is now firmly committed to NATO, but he does have some reservations, right? What are they?

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE⁴: Money, Audie. Trump often describes the U.S. as being taken advantage of by other countries, and he puts the NATO alliance in that category. He complains a lot of other NATO countries aren't spending enough on their own defense⁵, relying instead on the U.S. to pick up the slack.

Now, previous presidents have also warned about that although usually more quietly and diplomatically. Trump's been about as diplomatic as a debt collector. He tweeted after a recent meeting with the German chancellor⁶, Angela Merkel, that Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO and that the U.S. must be paid more. NATO countries have agreed to boost their individual defense spending to 2 percent of their respective economies by 2024. Right now only a handful of alliance members meet that target.

CORNISH: And so what's their response to this criticism from the U.S.?

HORSLEY: Well, there has been some pushback. For Germany, getting to 2 percent would mean almost doubling their defense spending. And while Merkel has pledged to get there eventually, she worries that ramping⁷ up too quickly could be wasteful⁸. She and the NATO secretary general have also stressed that, you know, military spending's just one part of a broader picture that they think should also include spending on development and the treatment of refugees, for example.

Now, while President Trump has called for a 10 percent boost in defense spending here in the U.S. next year, he wants to slash⁹ spending on foreign aid and sharply curtail¹⁰ the number of refugees the U.S. takes in. So there are some lingering differences in the alliance, and some of that could be on display next month when the president makes his first foreign trip to a NATO summit in Brussels.

CORNISH: Scott, the president's warming to NATO is coming at a time when the relationship between the U.S. and specifically with Russian President Vladimir Putin seems to be on the rocks. So is there some kind of connection there?

HORSLEY: Yeah, the bromance has definitely cooled. In fact Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who's in Moscow today, says U.S.-Russian relations have hit a low point. And White House officials say Russia's conduct is reinforcing Trump's support for NATO.

In an interview with the Fox Business Network, Trump complains that Putin's alliance with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is a mistake.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Frankly¹¹, Putin is backing a person that's truly an evil person. And I think it's very bad for Russia. I think it's very bad for mankind. It's very bad for this world.

HORSLEY: The Trump administration itself has been taking a much harder line on Assad since last week's chemical weapons attack.

CORNISH: Also, Scott, in that same Fox interview, the president seemed to rule out any large-scale U.S. military push in Syria, right?

HORSLEY: It certainly sounded that way. He said, quote, "we're not going into Syria." Now, in fact we already have hundreds of special operators there assisting local fighters in battling ISIS, but he seems to be ruling out any big deployment¹² of ground troops. At the same time, White House Spokesman Sean Spicer says the president is open to striking Syria from a distance if Assad tries again to use chemical weapons.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

SEAN SPICER: Should they continue to use gas, especially against children and babies, all options remain on the table. But make no mistake about it. I think the president showed last Thursday night that he will use decisive, justified¹³ and proportional action to right wrongs.

HORSLEY: Now, the president is holding a news conference after his NATO meeting today, and that will be a chance for reporters to ask the president about last week's missile strike and what, if anything, comes next.

CORNISH: That's NPR's White House correspondent Scott Horsley. Scott, thank you.

HORSLEY: Thank you.

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

3 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

6 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

7 ramping   

土堤斜坡( ramp的现在分词 )； 斜道； 斜路； （装车或上下飞机的）活动梯

参考例句：

• The children love ramping about in the garden. 孩子们喜欢在花园里追逐嬉戏，闹着玩。
• Have you ever seen a lion ramping around? 你看到过狮子暴跳吗？

8 wasteful   

adj.（造成）浪费的，挥霍的

参考例句：

• It is a shame to be so wasteful.这样浪费太可惜了。
• Duties have been reassigned to avoid wasteful duplication of work.为避免重复劳动浪费资源，任务已经重新分派。

9 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

10 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。

11 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

12 deployment   

n. 部署,展开

参考例句：

• He has inquired out the deployment of the enemy troops. 他已查出敌军的兵力部署情况。
• Quality function deployment (QFD) is a widely used customer-driven quality, design and manufacturing management tool. 质量功能展开(quality function deployment,QFD)是一个广泛应用的顾客需求驱动的设计、制造和质量管理工具。

13 justified   

a.正当的，有理的

参考例句：

• She felt fully justified in asking for her money back. 她认为有充分的理由要求退款。
• The prisoner has certainly justified his claims by his actions. 那个囚犯确实已用自己的行动表明他的要求是正当的。