TRUMP TO NATO: SPEND MORE FOR MILITARY
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO)
fer an explicit public endorsement of NATO’s “all for one, one for all” collective defense principle, though White House officials said his mere presence at the meeting signaled his commitment.
Fellow NATO leaders occasionally exchanged awkward looks with each other during the president’s lecture, which occurred at an event commemorating the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
When Trump tried to lighten the mood with a joke about NATO’s gleaming new home base - “I never asked once what the new NATO Headquarters cost” - there was no laughter from his counterparts.
NATO officials had expected Trump to raise the payments issue during Thursday’s meeting, even preparing Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg for the prospect that the president could try to pull off a stunt like handing out invoices.
But one European official said NATO members were still taken aback by the aggressive tone of his speech.
As a presidential candidate, Trump railed against NATO’s financial burden-sharing, suggesting the U.S. might only come to the defense of countries that meet the alliance’s guidelines of committing 2 percent of their gross domestic product to military spending.
During a private dinner Thursday night, the 28 members, plus soon-to-join Montenegro, renewed an old pledge to move toward the 2 percent by 2024.