The President of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, is backing Trump and says that her country is developing further ties with the US under Trump’s presidency. The Estonian President even sent Trump a letter to congratulate him on his election win. Kaljulaid said that Estonia wants strong relations with the US and that they need transatlantic cooperation now that the United States and Europe face common challenges including migration and terrorism.
She agrees with President Donald Trump on his view that NATO should spend more for defense. According to Trump, it is necessary for NATO to do this in order to contribute to security on the global scale and to provide collective defense effectively. Estonia is among the members of NATO that met the target for defense budget which is set at 2% of the GDP, said Kaljulaid.
Like the rest of the world, a lot of Estonians are confused by Trump’s first weeks as the President of the United States. Yet, the top diplomat of the Baltic country knows that they can’t afford to get into an argument with the highest ranking official of the free world, especially when Estonia is just a stone’s throw away from Russia.
In an interview, the Foreign Minister of Estonia, Sven Mikser, said that NATO will remain vital when the West starts a face-off with Moscow. He continued saying that this will eventually happen even if Trump tries to seek a better relationship with Russia and makes critical statements about an alliance. As of this moment, there is an investigation that’s being conducted on the matter that Russia had an involvement with Trump’s candidacy and win as the President.
“We are not the ones that elect the leaders of other countries. As a matter of fact, they have a democratic process that takes care of the election,” said Mr. Mikser. “The United States of America, for us, is the most crucial bilateral security ally and partner. The US is an important ally of NATO as it is military capable,” he added.
United States’ military muscle seems to be crucial in defending all of Europe and not just Estonia. Just a few weeks ago, troops and heavy tanks of NATO rolled into Estonia to shore up nervous states at Europe’s border with Belarus and Russia. American units have also carried out several joint exercises on defensive lines that are running from the Baltic shores up to the major rivers that supply the Black Sea. This was done together with European allies.
Since the violence in Ukraine that is backed by Russia is escalating and the fact that St. Petersburg is just a few miles away, Estonia is now on the front line. The little Baltic state was Soviet Union’s socialist republic for 50 years. Estonia has become NATO’s vital territory as it’s just hours away from the second city of Russia. The leaders of Estonia are hopeful as they have the US’s military power on their side.
