Biden faces crucial test at upcoming NATO summit, former diplomat says

The stakes are high for the NATO alliance as the organization’s 75th anniversary summit gets underway in Washington this week.

Particular focus will be on U.S. President Joe Biden amid widespread concerns about his age and mental fitness for the presidential race following his damaging debate performance against former President Donald Trump in June.

Former NATO deputy secretary-general Rose Gottemoeller stressed this point in a discussion with CNBC’s Capital Connection on Tuesday.

“I think this NATO summit in Washington is an important moment for Joe Biden, he really has to show that he is with it, he’s ready to continue to lead not only the United States of America but the NATO alliance,” she told CNBC’s Dan Murphy. “And so we will see in coming days just how well the U.S. president does.”

Asked if the summit could be make-or-break for the transatlantic alliance, Gottemoeller replied: “I think it is an extraordinarily important summit for the NATO alliance; I wouldn’t say it is a make-or-break. NATO has had many ups and downs over the years and some severe crises to deal with … it’s a difficult moment for NATO, but NATO has weathered a lot of crises before.”

The alliance’s main focus is currently supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia, an effort that many in the organization fear could be in peril if Trump wins the American presidency in November.

The U.S. supplies the lion’s share of financial and military support to Kyiv, and Trump has for years threatened to pull the U.S. out of the alliance if he returns to the White House. He has also expressed opposition to continuing to send military aid to Ukraine.

“I’m not predicting necessarily a Trump win in November; nevertheless, there will be tremendous pressure on the alliance I think from Donald Trump as there was during his first term in office when I was serving as deputy secretary-general at NATO,” Gottemoeller said. “He was unrelenting in pushing the NATO allies to spend more on their own defense.”

Trump routinely threatened member countries that did not meet the NATO requirement of spending 2% or more of their national budget on defense. He said in a February campaign rally that he would let Russian President Vladimir Putin attack member states that did not spend enough on their defense.