Rome, Jan. 20 (LaPresse) – ‘It's not that we can talk about Trump. We have to talk about the relationship with the United States. Relations do not change depending on the president in office.’ So said Defence Minister Guido Crosetto during an interview with Il Foglio. ‘The United States,' he continued, ’is a traditional ally of Italy: historic, stable, indispensable, an ally in choosing it. An ally with whom relations also imply obligations'. With Trump, Crosetto added, ‘the assertiveness with which the United States will demand respect for the agreements we have signed, underwritten, accepted, will probably change. For 75 years, De Gasperi government onwards, the others to follow'. In this regard, Crosetto said he was thinking of NATO ‘but not only. I'm thinking of respect for agreements in general, I'm thinking of the way in which respect for this pact of friendship will be understood. If you are my friend, it means that then maybe we have the same enemies, that the things we have decided to do together we do together and not just me. And the first point, of course, is NATO'. According to Crosetto, ‘a lot will change: we will have to respect precise targets that NATO has distributed equally among the nations. It will change the way we understand the concept of defending ourselves all together, also called ‘collective defence’. Common defence is a noble concept, of course, but it does not mean that the US will defend everyone no matter what its allies do. Not any more. There are agreements. Obligations. And those obligations now, with Trump, will be worth more. He will not discount, he will not turn a blind eye. Trump is many things at once, but he is above all a pragmatic man and president. And a pragmatist cannot but aim at the substance of things. That is: to the economic aspect. If I spend three to four per cent of my GDP to defend an alliance, such as NATO, and I have been doing so for 70 years, it is unacceptable, in the logic of a pragmatist, for someone to put in less and think they can defend themselves by leveraging the investments of others'.