NATO’s chief appeals for unity amid trans-Atlantic row

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a news conference after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the chancellery in Berlin on June 15, 2018. AP

LONDON — NATO’s chief is urging the alliance’s 29 countries to set aside a festering trans-Atlantic row over trade, climate and the Iran nuclear deal, amid concern that the tensions will undermine the military alliance.

In an editorial in Tuesday’s Guardian newspaper, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said “the ties that bind us are under strain.”

He said “we must continue to work hard to settle our differences – and where differences persist, we must limit any negative impact on our security cooperation.”

Stoltenberg’s message comes less than a month before US President Donald Trump meets with his NATO counterparts in Brussels. Stoltenberg says NATO has overcome divisions before and can do so now.

Trump humiliated his partners at a summit last year, publicly berating them for failing to spend enough on defense. /ee