NATO SUMMIT

NATO summit begins on tense note

BRUSSELS – President Donald Trump unleashed his harshest broadside yet against a European ally on Wednesday, accusing Germany of being “totally controlled by Russia” and of not meeting its obligations to the NATO alliance.

“Germany, as far I’m concerned, is captive to Russia,” Trump said.

Trump’s extraordinary rhetoric signaled that he would continue his aggressive, America-first attitude toward the United States’ closest allies – even as he himself prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in an effort to improve U.S.Russian relations.

Speaking to reporters after Trump’s remarks, German Chancellor Angela Merkel shot back that she would not be lectured about Russian control of Germany, having grown up in the Sovietdominated East Germany.

“I have experienced myself how a part of Germany was controlled by the Soviet Union,” she said, without mentioning Trump by name.

Trump’s verbal attack on Germany came in his first official event in Brussels Wednesday, setting a combative tone for the two-day summit of the alliance in Brussels. He leaves Brussels for two days in London Thursday, followed by a weekend in Scotland and his summit with Putin in Helsinki next Monday.

The harsh rhetoric suggested that Trump had no intention of patching up relationships bruised by a contentious

“So we’re supposed to protect Germany, but they’re getting their energy from Russia. Explain that.”

Group of Seven summit in Canada last month, when he refused to sign on to a routine joint declaration calling for a reduction in tariffs.

Trump has criticized European allies for not spending what they agreed to on defense. Under a 2014 agreement, NATO set that amount at 2 percent of each country’s economic output.

But Trump upped the ante in a closed-door meeting with allies Wednesday, demanding they double that amount to 4 percent of gross domestic product. At a current spending level of 3.5 percent, even the United States does not meet that mark.

Germany spends just 1.24 percent on defense. But Trump also lambasted Germany’s support for a pipeline that would bring Russian natural gas through the Baltic Sea to central Europe.

“So we’re supposed to protect Germany, but they’re getting their energy from Russia. Explain that. And it can’t be explained,” he said.

President Donald Trump talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday in Belgium a few hours after he described Germany as being “captive to Russia.”

GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP/GETTY IMAGES NATO’s Jens Stoltenberg, Germany’s Angela Merkel and President Donald Trump gather for the allies’ “family photo.”