One hundred and twenty two nations came together at the UN last fall to forge a treaty that would ban all nuclear weapons worldwide. The treaty was officially announced on July 6th of 2017. Now it has to be ratified by at least fifty nations before it enters into legal force. None of the nine countries which currently have nuclear weapons attended the conference that drew up the treaty. The Netherlands was the only member of NATO that attended the conference and they voted against the treaty.
Sweden is considering signing the treaty. Sweden is what is called a “Gold Card” member of NATO. They do not have full membership but they are granted some of the privileges of being a member of NATO.
The U.S. Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, has notified Sweden that there will be “severe consequences” for Sweden if they do sign the nuclear ban treaty. Sweden recently signed an agreement to increase military cooperation with the U.S. The letter from Mattis said that if Sweden signed the treaty, it could affect Swedish/U.S. military cooperation as well as U.S. military support in the event of a war.
The Mattis letter also suggested that if Sweden signed the treaty, it could affect their participation in NATO. Their status as a Gold Card member faces a renewal in October. Mattis said that they would lose the opportunity to become a full member of NATO if they sign the treaty. A Swedish newspaper also reported that Swedish participation in the treaty could have a negative impact on cooperation between the Swedish and U.S. defense industries.
A Pentagon spokesperson said that while the U.S. “values its defense relationship with Sweden”, it is U.S. policy to discourage other countries from signing the treaty. The spokesperson went on to say that the nuclear weapons ban treaty contains measures that "could potentially affect our ability to cooperate with parties to the treaty on issues of mutual interest."
Jim Townsend was a U.S. deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO policy for eight years. He is now at the Center for New American Security. He told a reporter that using threats about defense cooperation to dissuade Sweden from signing the treaty was a “flawed approach.” He added that "They are a close friend in a dangerous neighborhood, and so threatening that important relationship lacks some credibility. Do the Swedes really think we would downgrade our relationship to punish them for signing a nuclear ban treaty?"
Sweden, Finland and Norway currently maintain a stance of military neutrality with respect to confrontations between NATO countries and Russia. They do cooperate with the U.S. and NATO members in Europe on military issues. The U.S. relationship with these three countries is increased in importance as tensions have risen between Russia and European countries. Norway is working on improving its border defenses. It has played host to caches of U.S. military equipment and has just extended the deployment of U.S. marines in Norway. Finland is currently considering the purchase of advanced fighter aircraft and might order them from Boeing.
