A Study On The U.S.-Europe Military Expenditure Sharing Contradiction During The Trump Administration

The Trump administration has proposed ?America first? as its policy principle.In order to realize its global strategy,the Trump administration requires NATO‘s European allies to assume more defense responsibilities and pay more military expenditures.Trump has frequently stated that the United States has shouldered NATO‘s heavy burden of military expenditures,and therefore requires European allies to undertake as soon as possible to increase their military expenditures to no less than 2% of the gross domestic product(GDP).In order to make the European allies meet the above requirements as soon as possible,Trump even threatened to withdraw from NATO,saying that NATO is ?outdated?,criticizing the United States‘ NATO allies in Europe very rudely,and deciding to cut U.S.troops in Germany,and so on.This series of actions by the Trump administration has rapidly intensified the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction,and has expanded the contradictions and differences between the United States and its European allies.Although the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction has existed for a long time,since the end of the Cold War,the contradiction has generally remained in a relatively calm state.However,during the Trump administration,this contradiction showed a highly intensified situation,with some characteristics different from the past,which are worthy of research and analysis.During the Trump administration,the reasons why the United States provoked the contradiction,the game between the United States and Europe on the contradiction,and the complex impact of the contradiction are also worthy of research and analysis.This paper takes ?the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction during the Trump Administration? as the research object,and uses literature analysis method,comparative analysis method and data analysis method to comprehensively analyze the contradiction of U.S.and European military expenditure sharing during the Trump Administration.The main content is divided into four Chapters.The first chapter of this paper comprehensively sorts out the history of the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction from the establishment of NATO to Trump‘s assumption of power,divides the history of the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction into three stages,and summarizes the three characteristics of the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction.The second chapter of this article describes and analyzes the intensification of the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction during the Trump Administration from three aspects,including the reasons why the Trump administration provoked the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction,the game situation between the U.S.and Europe on the military expenditure sharing contradiction,and the implication between the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction and other U.S.-Europe contradictions.The third chapter of this paper elaborates on the path for the United States and Europe to ease the military expenditure sharing contradiction,analyzes why the easing of the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction is difficult to sustain,and predicts the development trend of the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction in combination with the new situation in 2020.The fourth chapter of this paper elaborates on the characteristics of the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction during the Trump period,and point out that the contradiction has an important impact on the future development of NATO,Europe‘s strategic autonomy,Russia-Europe relations,and China‘s strategic pressure.On the basis of the previous analysis,the concluding part of this paper gives countermeasures and suggestions that our country can consider.The U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction during the Trump Administration presents both opportunities and challenges for China.China should seize the opportunities and resolve the challenges.It is foreseeable that in the coming period of time,the United States may continue to exert pressure on China,and may instigate NATO‘s European allies to suppress China together.Therefore,in order to create a favorable strategic environment for China,China should make good use of the favorable opportunity of the U.S.-Europe alliance that has widened the rift due to the U.S.-Europe military expenditure sharing contradiction,and build a good Sino-European relationship to prevent NATO European allies from joining the America‘s camp to suppress China,while strengthening Sino-Russian relations in response to NATO‘s strengthening and threat adjustment.