{"id":2602497,"date":"2026-05-14T05:59:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T09:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/finland-feels-the-same-as-trump-on-nato-failures-but-pleads-for-unity\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T06:04:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T10:04:30","slug":"finland-feels-the-same-as-trump-on-nato-failures-but-pleads-for-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/finland-feels-the-same-as-trump-on-nato-failures-but-pleads-for-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland feels the same as Trump on NATO failures but pleads for unity"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffinland-feels-the-same-as-trump-on-nato-failures-but-pleads-for-unity%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2602497&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Finland, which joined NATO just over three <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ca-governor-breaks-his-own-covid-rules-to-eat-fancy-french-food\/\" title=\"Ca. Governor Breaks His Own COVID Rules To Eat Fancy French Food\">years ago<\/a>, says the alliance has not yet reached its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kamala-harris-were-all-a-part-of-george-floyds-legacy\/\" title=\"Kamala Harris: \u2018We...re All A Part Of George Floyd...s Legacy...\">full potential<\/a> because NATO members-especially in Europe-have often been disorganized or underfunded relative to defense and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/its-not-just-the-suit-can-you-spot-the-difference-hegseth-posts-nato-meeting-pic-says-one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-others\/\" title=\"It&#039;s Not Just the Suit - Can You Spot the Difference? - Hegseth Posts ... Meeting Pic, Says &#039;One of These Things Is Not Like the Others&#039;\">deterrence goals<\/a>. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen argues that Europe\u2019s shortfalls can\u2019t simply be blamed on American pressure to buy U.S. weapons; she also points to Europe\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >difficulties developing credible<\/a>, self-sustaining defense industries.<\/p>\n<p>finland also criticizes the risk raised by President Donald Trump\u2019s criticism of NATO, including threats to disengage or reduce U.S. involvement if the alliance does not better support operations in places like the Iran conflict. Finnish leaders warn that separating U.S. Middle East work from NATO would damage coherence, and they stress that NATO is not only about Europe but part of a broader global \u201calliance network\u201d that includes partnerships and agreements reaching into the Pacific and Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>With Russia seen as a potential article 5 test and Finland positioned as one of the West\u2019s most exposed eastern states,Finland\u2019s stance toward the U.S.is urgent: it fears that any doubt about U.S. commitment would undermine deterrence, leaving Finland exposed and unprepared.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p><strong>HELSINKI, Finland<\/strong> \u2014 <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/finland\/\">Finland<\/a> joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization just over three years ago, expecting to walk into an efficient and well-funded defensive alliance capable of warding off their belligerent <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia\" type=\"link\" id=\"washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/russia\">Russian<\/a> neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>Finnish government leaders are not afraid to admit that they found <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/nato\/\">NATO<\/a> to be much more disorganized and underfunded than they hoped \u2014 echoing recent complaints from President <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"http:\/\/washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" type=\"link\" id=\"washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\">Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4567918\/xi-jinping-world-at-crossroads-overcoming-thucydides-trap\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>China\u2019s Xi Jinping warns of world being at \u2018crossroads\u2019 and talks of overcoming \u2018Thucydides Trap\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/4567904\/trump-cabinet-officials-welcomed-by-xi-jinping\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump and Cabinet officials welcomed by Xi at China\u2019s Great Hall of the People<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4566870\/trump-administration-suspend-visa-bond-world-cup\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump administration suspends visa bonds for foreigners with World Cup tickets<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>But as Trump threatens to walk away from an alliance that has \u201cdone absolutely nothing to help\u201d with the Iran war, Finland is pleading for the United States not to blow up the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/will-biden-abandon-taiwan\/\" title=\"Will Biden Abandon Taiwan?\">defense network<\/a> just as its fellow European members are beginning to pull their weight.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>\u201cWe have exactly the same position as President Trump in the sense that we think that NATO is not at its full potential yet because most of the European countries have not invested enough in the past years in defense and deterrence,\u201d Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said in a private meeting with American journalists, including the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, in Helsinki on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen speaks to American reporters at the nation\u2019s parliament in Helsinki. (Timothy Nerozzi\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Prior to 2025, multiple members of NATO routinely failed to meet the alliance\u2019s 2014 agreement that each spend at least 2% of gross domestic product on defense. Others packed questionable expenditures into their \u201cdefense budgets\u201d in order to pad out their totals without actually contributing to joint security.<\/p>\n<p>Valtonen offered some qualified defense of European counterparts in the alliance, contesting that Trump and previous U.S. administrations have expected the continent to only invest in defense by purchasing American weapons. She suggested that such an arrangement undermines Europe\u2019s ability to produce a credible defense industry.<\/p>\n<p>Trump cracked the whip on the alliance at the beginning of his second term, and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4504682\/nato-reports-20-percent-increase-spending-allies\/\">credited the president<\/a> with forcing a \u201creal shift in mindset\u201d among delinquent members.<\/p>\n<p>She also pointed to \u201cnot so long ago\u201d when \u201cnot only Americans but many other countries in Europe\u201d urged post-reunification Germany not to invest in its own defense at all. That demand has come back to bite the alliance as one of its wealthiest members <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4541197\/germany-strategy-europe-strongest-military-2039\/\">struggles to refurbish its decrepit military<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>All NATO members are now hitting their spending expectations for the first time, a development that should have solidified confidence in the alliance\u2019s future. <\/p>\n<p>But some states\u2019 failure to even passively support U.S. operations against Iran has led Trump to declare he \u201cneeds nothing from NATO\u201d and <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/4554419\/trump-europe-troops-nato-germany\/\">reduce American personnel<\/a> in Europe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think sometimes it seems that President Trump, when he speaks about NATO, he speaks about Europe \u2014 but Europe and NATO, of course, are two different things,\u201d Valtonen said, adding that Trump should \u201ckeep what is happening in the Middle East now separated from NATO.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen reiterated the idea that \u201cNATO is not only Europe\u201d during a subsequent meeting with reporters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe big picture is that Russia and China are trying to separate Western countries,\u201d Hakkanen told reporters in a separate meeting at the Ministry of Defense. \u201cThat will benefit China mostly because they don\u2019t have this kind of unique alliance globally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>NATO\u2019s influence beyond Europe and North America is bolstered by collateral alliances between member countries and outside allies such as Japan and Australia. Through these mutual defense pacts, NATO projects power into regions like the Middle East and the Pacific.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen speaks with American reporters at the Ministry of Defense in Helsinki. (Timothy Nerozzi\/Washington Examiner)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe U.S.\u2019s biggest influence in the world comes through alliances in the Pacific area, Middle East, Europe, and all that stuff and that\u2019s why this alliance network \u2014 not just U.S.-Europe, but the alliance network \u2014 is the key,\u201d the defense minister asserted.<\/p>\n<p>He warned that partners and non-NATO allies across the globe are watching the alliance carefully to determine whether the \u201cglobal U.S. alliance network\u201d has a future.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPacific area partners and Middle East partners are also watching closely [to see] what is the future of this global U.S. alliance network,\u201d Hakkanen said. \u201cAnd this is the main objective for Russia and especially China in [the] long term \u2014 to separate this alliance or bring mistrust into that alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Finland\u2019s decision to abandon decades of neutrality and join NATO was a major geopolitical gamble. Their realignment upset Russia and put a target on their back as one of the West\u2019s easternmost <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4563391\/finland-president-stubb-russia-ukraine-talks\/\">bulwarks against Moscow\u2019s sphere of influence<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, their tone toward the mercurial Trump administration is one of desperation, well aware that a U.S. withdrawal would leave them exposed, vulnerable, and unprepared to face the threats that loom in the east.<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/4565508\/finnish-firm-launching-three-man-drone-factories-rapid-remote-production\/\">FINNISH FIRM LAUNCHING THREE-MAN DRONE FACTORIES FOR RAPID, REMOTE PRODUCTION<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cRussia might be \u2014 just for whatever reason \u2014 willing to test Article 5,\u201d Valtonen said. \u201cIf there is any doubt that the U.S. would not be on board in that, then of course it crumbles altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe definitely hope that the U.S. is not leaving NATO. It is not only out of self-interest but also for basically, I would say, the future of humankind,\u201d she continued. \u201cWe do think that those values we represent are the best ones in the world \u2014 we stand strong for freedom \u2014 and it\u2019s just easier to do that together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finland joined NATO expecting strength; finds it disorganized<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2602498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/finlandministers-e1778720179590.jpg?1778705792&amp;w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[7625,50459,3634],"class_list":["post-2602497","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-finland","tag-nato-2","tag-trump"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/finlandministers-e1778720179590.jpg?1778705792&amp;w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602497","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2602497"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602497\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2602501,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2602497\/revisions\/2602501"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2602498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2602497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}