A former Nato chief is calling for the creation of an economic version of the “Article 5” mutual defence pledge that defines the transatlantic military alliance, in order to thwart commercial coercion by authoritarian states.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former Danish prime minister who served as Nato secretary-general from 2009 to 2014, will on Friday announce a plan for western allies and other democracies to respond more effectively to economic threats from countries like China and Russia.
“Our proposal is inspired by Nato’s Article 5, which states that a military attack on one ally is considered an attack on all,” Rasmussen wrote in a report co-authored with Ivo Daalder, the former US ambassador to Nato. “The aim is to produce the same deterrence and solidarity in the economic realm among democracies that Nato produces in the security realm.