TRUMP AGAIN BERATES EUROPE ON DEFENSE SPENDING

BRUSSELS— US President Donald Trump said his efforts pushed other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) countries to pay more for the common defense, but it was still not enough to offset the burden on US taxpayers.

"Over the last year, about $40 billion more has been given by other countries to help Nato but that’s not nearly enough,” Trump said ahead of a Nato summit in Brussels.

"The United States is spending far too much and other countries are not paying enough, especially some.

"This has been going on for decades and it is disproportionate and not fair to the taxpayers of the United States,” the US leader added.

Objective data

According to Nato figures, the United States will account for just under 70 percent of defense spending in Nato in 2018—$706 billion out of the just over $1 trillion spent by all 29 members.

Britain is the next biggest defense spender with an estimated $62 billion in 2018, followed by France with $52 billion and Germany with $51 billion.

However, spending figures do not consider the size of each country’s economy.

Two-percent target

In 2014, Nato members pledged to “aim to move toward the two-percent guideline within a decade” and Trump has repeatedly used that pledge to berate other Nato countries.

If all Nato allies did hit the target it would translate into an extra $110 billion.

The United States is Nato’s biggest spender shelling out an estimated 3.5 percent of gross domestic product on defense in 2018.—