Blistering Trump attack on Nato allies’ spending

US president accuses Germany of being captive to Russia

US President Donald Trump traded barbs with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a tense Nato summit on Wednesday after he accused Berlin of being captive to Russia and demanded it immediately step up defence spending.

The two-day meeting in Brussels is shaping up as the alliance’s most difficult in years, with Europe and the US engaged in a bitter trade spat and Trump demanding that Nato allies reimburse Washington for the cost of defending the continent.

Merkel shot back that Germany had the right to make its own policy choices.

Trump’s blistering attack on Germany at a breakfast meeting with Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg was a surprise.

“Germany is a captive of Russia because it is getting so much of its energy from Russia,” Trump said, taking particular aim at the proposed Nord Stream II gas pipeline, which he has previously criticised.

“Everybody’s talking about it all over the world,” he said.

“They’re saying we’re paying you billions of dollars to protect you, but you’re paying billions of dollars to Russia.”

Merkel, who grew up in Soviet-dominated East Germany, gave a sharp reply.

“I have also experienced a part of Germany being controlled by the Soviet Union,” she said.

“I am very glad that we are united today in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany and that we can therefore also make our own independent policies and decisions.”

Trump has long complained that European Nato members do not pay enough for their own defence, accusing them of freeloading on America, singling out Germany for particular criticism.

Nato allies agreed at a summit in Wales in 2014 to move towards spending 2% of GDP on defence by 2024.

But Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, spends just 1.24%, compared with 3.5% for the US.

“These countries have to step it up – not over a 10-year period, they have to step it up immediately,” Trump said.

“We’re protecting Germany, France and everybody . . . this has been going on for decades.

“We’re not going to put up with it, we can’t put up with it and it’s inappropriate.”

Stoltenberg insisted that the allies all agree on fundamental issues – the need to boost Nato’s resilience, fight terror and share the cost of defence more equally.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country also lags on the 2% pledge, said the focus should be on outputs rather than on how much was spent.

Nato officials and diplomats will try to promote an image of unity at the summit in the face of growing unease about the threat from Russia, but with the row between Merkel and Trump it may prove difficult to paper over the cracks.

The mercurial tycoon said before leaving Washington that his meeting in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday might be the easiest part of his European tour, which includes a trip to Britain.

Trump’s comments ahead of the trip – that Britain was “in somewhat turmoil” and that it was up to the people if Prime Minster Theresa May stayed in power – fanned the sense of political crisis.

Trump also said he might speak to former foreign secretary Boris Johnson, who quit along with Brexit minister David Davis over May’s plans for a business-friendly Brexit.

Commentators said Trump meeting Johnson would suggest backing for his view that May’s plans would inhibit Britain’s ability to forge new free trade deals.

‘We’re protecting Germany, France and everybody . . . this has been going on for decades’

Donald Trump US PRESIDENT