NATO feels its age at 75

The challenges facing NATO at age 75 [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( Welcome to Balance of Power, bringing you the latest in global politics. If you haven’t yet, sign up [here](. Advancing age is a sensitive issue right now both for US President Joe Biden and the NATO military alliance whose 75th anniversary summit he’s hosting in Washington. NATO faces existential risks from the potential return of Donald Trump to the White House after November’s presidential election and from Russian President Vladimir Putin’s challenge to European security with his war in Ukraine. Leaders at the three-day gathering are trying hard to display signs of vigor, [promising Ukraine new weapons](, particularly for air defense, and likely offering it an “irreversible” path to NATO membership. WATCH: NATO allies promised five long-range air-defense systems for Ukraine in what Biden called a “historic donation.” But there’s also a sense of the passing of time, of the need to get things done before a possible Trump comeback upends calculations about the war and NATO’s own future. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy [spelled out the urgency]( in Washington yesterday, saying it’s time for NATO “to act and not to wait for November or any other month.” If he wins the election, Trump has said he’ll end the war before he takes office in January, though he hasn’t explained how, and Ukraine is fearful of being sold out in any deal with Putin. Nervous allies worry he’d water down the US commitment to NATO’s collective-security guarantee, by offering only to protect countries meeting its minimum defense-spending pledge. The alliance’s troubles are encouraging for Putin, who’s showing the US and Europe that he’s [far from an international outcast]( with a string of recent meetings with foreign leaders. He remains determined to wage war on Ukraine and wait for cracks to emerge among Kyiv’s supporters. Biden’s alleged frailty is turning the summit’s diplomatic pageantry into a test of the 81-year-old’s ability to remain leader of the free world for another four years. For NATO, navigating uncertainty during the worst war in Europe since its formation, the question is what shape it may be in even this time next year. — [Anthony Halpin]( Trump and Putin in 2017. Photographer: Mikhail Klimentyev/AFP/Getty Images Global Must Reads Biden is wooing Black, Hispanic and progressive leaders to stifle an uprising in the Democratic Party over his fitness for office, even though his standing among voters in those groups has diminished. Some of his [staunchest defenders]( have been lawmakers of color, bolstering Biden’s case that he has rank-and-file support while he chastised “elites” for voicing concerns over his age, calamitous debate performance and faltering speech. Political jockeying in France is gaining steam as Edouard Philippe, a former prime minister for President Emmanuel Macron, called for parties of the center and center-right to join forces to form a new government. His comments come [as a complex split]( in the National Assembly sets the stage for unprecedented deal-making to try to forge a stable ruling coalition. As nations in western Europe focus on upgrading or replacing old nuclear reactors, the east is uniting behind the [biggest drive for new capacity]( in decades. The question is who will pay for it and how much of it becomes reality. From the Czech Republic to Romania, governments are drawing up plans for what some have called the “biggest project of the century.” They want to build at least a dozen new units to the tune of some €130 billion ($139 billion). Saudi Arabia warned that it might sell some European debt holdings if the Group of Seven decided to seize almost $300 billion of Russia’s frozen assets, sources say. The G-7 eventually agreed to tap the profits generated by the holdings despite a US and UK push for allies to consider bolder options. It was unclear if Riyadh [acted out of self-interest]( — fearing such action would set a precedent — or in solidarity with Moscow, with which it maintains close ties. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was in Bolivia yesterday seeking to unify the Andean nation’s splintered socialist movement, a rift that’s undermining the government’s ability to [respond to an economic crisis](. Two weeks after an attempted military coup, President Luis Arce and former President Evo Morales remain at loggerheads over Morales’s bid to run against his onetime protégé in next year’s elections. China is investigating whether the European Union’s recent tariffs and actions against the world’s No. 2 economy constitute a [barrier to free trade](, underscoring tensions between the two. Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta will start removing more posts [that attack “Zionists”]( when the term is used to represent Jewish people or Israelis more generally. Thailand’s plan to reclassify cannabis as a narcotic just two years after its historic decriminalization sends the [wrong signal to foreign investors](, the second-biggest party in the ruling coalition warned. Washington Dispatch Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is [releasing her delegates]( and encouraging them to support her primary rival Trump at the party’s national convention next week. Haley, in a statement yesterday, called the convention a “time for Republican unity” and portrayed her decision as important to denying Biden another term in the White House. The former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador ended her run for the Republican nomination in March after a poor performance in the Super Tuesday contests, becoming the last major rival to Trump to exit the primary. One person to watch today: US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell ends his two days of congressional testimony after [he was careful]( yesterday not to offer a timeline for interest-rate cuts. [Sign up for the Washington Edition newsletter]( for more from the US capital and watch Balance of Power at 1 and 5 p.m. ET weekdays on Bloomberg Television. Chart of the Day Hong Kong is winning back wealthy Chinese by rolling out the red carpet for the rich while rival Singapore scrutinizes foreign money. The Chinese territory is [expected to welcome]( about 200 high net-worth individuals this year after five years of millionaires skipping town. At the same time, fallout from a blockbuster S$3 billion ($2.2 billion) money laundering case has put Singapore’s family offices and wealthy immigrants under the microscope. And Finally US paper makers are warning the EU that a new law requiring them to [trace timber]( to its origins risks disrupting $3.5 billion of trade and raising prices for diapers, sanitary pads and other hygiene products. The American Forest and Paper Association says it will be impossible to comply with the pending EU Deforestation Regulation because pulp supply chains are too diffuse to track all trees, and there’s often a two-year lag between the time they’re cut down and when they’re turned into fiber. A diaper decorated with an Elmo character. 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