President Trump didn’t let up Wednesday on his attacks on NATO leaders for failing to cough up enough money for defense spending, lashing out on Twitter at allies about fulfilling their commitment between meetings and an official dinner.
”What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy? Why are there only 5 out of 29 countries that have met their commitment?” Trump posted on his account. “The U.S. is paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025.”
The president continued on a tear he began earlier Wednesday about NATO members for not meeting a 2014 commitment calling on the counties to increase defense spending to 2 percent of their gross domestic product in 10 years.
He singled out Germany, which pays 1.2 percent, during a breakfast meeting in Brussels with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and questioned why the country would embark on an energy deal with Russia.
“I think it’s very sad when Germany makes a massive oil and gas deal with Russia, where you’re supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia,” Trump told Stoltenberg.
Of the 29 NATO nations, only eight have either met or will meet the 2 percent threshold by the end of 2018, including the US, which spends about 3.5 percent of its GDP on defense.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed Trump’s upping his demand to 4 percent, which was first revealed by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, who told reporters that other members were stunned by the figure.
NATO members had set a goal of contributing at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product by 2024.
Stoltenberg said that members should stick to the original goal.
“I will focus on what we have agreed, and we have agreed to be committed to the pledge increasing defense spending to 2 percent, and let’s start with that,” he said, adding that all NATO allies agreed that the cost of defense spending must be shared and that last year had seen the biggest increase in a generation.
Trump claimed the United States spends 4.2 percent of its GDP on defense, but the Congressional Budget Office reported the US spent 3.5 percent on defense in 2017. The total last exceeded 4 percent in 2012, when it was 4.2 percent under President Obama.
Baltic leaders, fearful of another incident like Russia’s annexation of Crimea, called for unity as they arrived at the summit, while Slovakia President Andrej Kiska said his country was “one of the good guys” because he has increased defense spending.
Trump, whom allies hope will sign off on a summit deal to step up the West’s deterrence of Russian aggression, plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki on Monday after a four-day trip to the UK.