Donald Trump has said
that as president he may not guarantee protection to fellow NATO countries who
come under attack.
In his first major
interview since being voted the Republican presidential nominee, Mr Trump
advocated an ultra isolationist foreign policy that would destroy core pillars
of American foreign and security policy since the Second World War.
In a preview of the
acceptance speech he is slated to give at theRepublican National
Convention on Thursday, Mr Trump told the New York Times that
"existing agreements" could not continue to rely on what he called an
"era of American largesse".
"We are
spending a fortune on military in order to lose $800 billion,” he said,
citing "trade losses". “That doesn’t sound very smart to me.”
Although Mr Trump
has made similar threats in the past, his comments in the 45-minute interview
were the most detailed description of the unprecedented policy proposal yet.
Asked specifically
about Russian military manoeuvres that have unnerved Lithuania, Latvia and
Estonia, the small Baltic states who only recently joined NATO, Mr Trump said
that coming to their aid would depend on on whether those countries "have
fulfilled their obligations to us".
Mr Trump also
refused to criticise Turkey for cracking down on political opponents and
restricting civil liberties.
He praised Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and gave him "great credit for being able
to turn around" the coup.
Mr Trump said he
believed he could encourage Mr Erdogan to do more in the fight against Isil.
The Republican presidential nominee said the US had no right to
"lecture" other countries when "people are shooting policemen in
cold blood here".
Advocating an "America First"
policy he said the US had to "fix our own mess"
first.
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