Trump brings demands, barbs to NATO meeting
President calls for large jump in defense spending
BRUSSELS — President Donald Trump barreled into a NATO summit Wednesday with claims that a natural gas pipeline deal has left Germany “totally controlled” and “captive to Russia” as he lobbed fresh complaints about allies’ “delinquent” defense spending during the opening of a two-day meeting.
Trump also suggested that NATO allies commit to spending 4 percent of their gross domestic product on defense — double the current goal of 2 percent by 2024.
Even as he flew to Brussels, Trump continued his attacks on NATO allies for not spending more on defense, and after hours of meetings Wednesday he reiterated his disdain in a tweet that began, “What good is NATO … ?”
As his latest remarks filtered back to the United States, even some Republican congressional leaders criticized the president for his slams against Germany and other allies, though others defended him.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said that Trump “can be a little too critical of the other counterparts, and I don’t think he should be critical.”
But Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, a strong supporter of the president, said the pipeline issue strikes at the “heart of NATO unity.” Among Democrats, former Secretary of State John F. Kerry called Trump’s statements “disgraceful, destructive,” and the party’s congressional leaders — Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi — in a joint statement said the president’s comments were an “embarrassment” and “another profoundly disturbing signal that the president is more loyal to President Putin than to our NATO allies.”
In closed-door summit meetings, Trump significantly increased his previous demands for NATO allies’ defense spending, saying each of the 29 member nations should budget an amount equal to 4 percent of their economies as measured by their gross domestic product — up from 2 percent.
While NATO in 2014 set the goal that each nation reach the 2 percent level by 2024, Trump told allies to do so immediately. Doubling that, which allies reject, would require that the U.S. — now at 3.5 percent of GDP — increase its military spending as well.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who throughout the day emphasized the steady increases in member nations’ military spending in recent years, later told reporters that the alliance would focus on meeting its current goal.
White House aides privately acknowledged that Trump’s posture reflected his transactional approach, and was intended to create leverage on trade issues as well as security.
Following the meetings at the NATO campus on the outskirts of Belgium’s capital, Trump’s secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, took to Twitter for damage control.
He tweeted, “All #NATO allies have committed to extending this success through increased defense spending, deterrence and defense, and fighting terrorism. Weakness provokes; strength and cohesion protects. This remains our bedrock belief.”