Trump attacks Merkel over oil deal

Donald Trump has launched a blistering attack on Germany, saying it was “totally controlled” by Russia, as he ramped up demands for Nato allies to pay more for their collective defence.

On the opening day of an alliance summit in Brussels, the US president fur ther raised t h e s t a k e s b y s u g g e s t i n g a doubling of the alliance target for member states to spend at

least 2 per cent of their GDP on defence.

“He suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2 per cent of their GDP on defence spending, but that they increase it to 4 per cent,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Arriving in the Belgian capital, Mr Trump said it was “totally inappropriate” that Germany was paying billions of dollars to Russia for oil and gas while spending little more than 1 per cent of its GDP on defence.

He said the deal had left the German state a“captive” of Moscow.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hit back, saying that having experienced life in Soviet-controlled former East Germany, she was glad they could now “determine our own policies and make our own decisions”.

After meeting Mrs Merkel later in the margins of the summit, Mr Trump insisted they had “a very, very good relationship”, but his comments could not disguise the continuing divisions among the Western allies.

Theresa May, who is preparing to host Mr Trump on his first visit to the UK as president, was at pains to stress Britain’s “steadfast” commitment to the alliance, announcing the deployment of 440 more troops to the Nato mission in Afghanistan.

The president launched his tirade against Germany during a meeting yesterday ahead of the main summit with Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg.

“We are supposed to be guarding against Russia, and Germany goes out and pays billions and billions of dollars a year to Russia,” he said.