Trump administration excludes UK, France and Baltics from NATO future talks in Poland

The Trump administration has excluded the United Kingdom, France and the Baltic states from a Pentagon-led NATO meeting in Poland next month aimed at discussing the alliance’s future, POLITICO reported on Wednesday.

The gathering is being organised by US Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby and will involve a select group of NATO countries, six diplomats familiar with the planning told POLITICO. Invited countries are Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands — the “Bergen Group” format, after an initial meeting in Bergen, Norway, in June. Colby has already held two similar meetings with that group.

The exclusion has caused confusion because Britain, France, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are among NATO’s most active defence contributors. “We’re doing everything that is being asked of us,” an official from one excluded country told POLITICO. “We’re trying to understand what the criteria is and what the purpose of these meetings are. Not much has been passed on to us yet.”

The White House did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment; the Pentagon declined to comment. Colby has previously described the participants as NATO members that were quickly fulfilling their defence-spending commitments and prepared to focus on practical decisions.

“If they try splitting NATO into the good ones and the bad ones, it is dangerous for the US,” another diplomat said. “But for Europe, this is existential.” Denmark could become the next country invited following an agreement allowing the US to expand its military presence in Greenland, a person familiar with the planning said.