Joe Biden’s closest western allies will depart Washington unsure of the US’s commitment to Nato beyond January, after an alliance summit overshadowed by questions about whether the American president can continue his fight for re-election against Donald Trump.
The White House had hoped the 75th anniversary gathering would be a show of alliance unity and resolve against Russia. But the US domestic political turmoil and renewed equivocations from Trump about Washington’s commitments to the alliance’s common security principles contributed to an intense sense of unease.
Much of the talk throughout the week, whether in the cavernous convention centre where leaders gathered, at formal receptions across the US capital or at after-hours gatherings at bars and embassies, centred around how Biden had performed at the summit’s proceedings — and what his future would hold.