Trump tirade prompts crisis talks
BRUSSELS: United States President Donald Trump yesterday launched a fresh attack on Nato allies’ failure to raise defence spending, prompting leaders to huddle in a special session excluding other summit participants, sources said.
At one point, in a break with diplomatic protocol, Trump addressed German Chancellor Angela Merkel by her first name and told her: ‘‘Angela, you need to do something about this,’’ a source said.
Invited leaders from nonNato countries Afghanistan and Georgia were asked to leave along with most Nato leaders’ retinues of officials, as the heads of state and government of the Western alliance sought to deal with the man whose nation commands much of the budget and forces for Europe’s defence.
Trump also held a surprise press conference and said he had no doubt Nato members would pay the extra funding he had asked for.
Trump had opened the first day of talks in Brussels with a public diatribe against Germany, the secondbiggest state in the Western defence alliance, before the mood appeared to have calmed as the summit went into its second day, focusing on operations beyond Europe.
But, several sources said, Trump instead reopened in strong terms his demand that other countries greatly speed up their progress toward a Nato target of spending at least 2% of their GDP on defence, which now has a deadline of 2024 with getout terms available that can stretch it to 2030.
‘‘The language was much tougher today,’’ one source said.
‘‘His harshest words were directed at Germany, including by calling her Angela —‘You, Angela.’’’
As well as Merkel, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and Charles Michel, the Prime Minister of Belgium, were also singled out by Trump for undershooting on their spending targets when American . taxpayers, funding a defence budget worth about 3.6% of their national income, foot much of Nato’s bills.
Breaking from a carefully scripted session that was to focus on Ukraine and Georgia, one source said Trump ‘‘forcibly restated his position on wanting Nato members to reach 2% spending target to a short a deadline’’.
Two Nato sources said, however, that Trump had not issued a threat to pull the United States out of the alliance that it helped found to keep the peace in Europe after World War 2.
Leaders had gone into the second day, set to focus mainly on ending the long war in Afghanistan, with low expectations, showing the extent of European frustration with Trump’s ‘‘America first’’ policies among the other 28 members of the alliance.
Trump took to Twitter to say publicly what he told Nato leaders privately, calling on all allies to meet a commitment agreed in 2014 to spend 2% of economic output on defence to counter threats ranging from Russia’s military modernisation to militant attacks on Europe.
He also renewed a demand that they even double that — though many question what they could usefully spend it on.
Despite haranguing allies and accusing Germany of being a prisoner to Russian energy, Trump was mildmannered at a private dinner. — Reuters