BRUSSELS – U.S. President Donald J. Trump sharply criticized 23 of 28 nations that form NATO for not meeting their financial commitments to the alliance as the leaders of those countries stood by, looking uncomfortable, during a dedication of a memorial to the nearly 3,000 people killed by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001 in America.
“The NATO of the future must include a great focus on terrorism and immigration as well as threats from Russia and our eastern and southern borders. These grave security concerns are the same reason I have been very direct with Secretary (General Jens) Stoltenberg and members of the alliance in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations.”
However, “23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States and many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not making payments in these past years.”
Trump noted that “over the last eight years, the U.S. spent more on defense than all other NATO nations combined.” If every NATO member had spent the required 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense last year alone, “we would have had another $119 billion for our collective defense and for the financing of additional NATO reserves.”
Trump also said that “even 2 percent of GDP” is “the bare minimum” to confront the growing threats in the world today.
Only five nations — the United States, the United Kingdom, Greece, Estonia and Poland — have honored their pledge to spend 2 percent of GDP on national defense. The other 23 alliance members, including major powers Germany, France and Canada, have not. The 2 percent spending pledge was made at the NATO Summit in Wales in 2014.
The full video of Trump’s remarks can be found on the official NATO website here.
