The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Build up denfenses, Trump tells allies
President prods NATO nations to double military spending.
BRUSSELS — President Donald Trump on Wednesday issued an ambitious call for more defense spending at NATO, pushing for a doubling of their defense spending commitments hours after he delivered a critique of Germany and other allies.
The request, made during a closed-door meeting of NATO leaders, would increase the amount of money channeled toward military purposes in the Western alliance — and even the United States is currently falling well short of
Trump’s new goal.
Although the president joined fellow NATO leaders in approving a sweeping set of plans to improve defenses against Russia and terrorism, the U.S. president has said that Europe has been taking advantage of U.S. military support for the continent. He urged his counterparts
to raise targets that they are already missing.
The move would raise billions more for defense. But not even the United States — which spends more money on defense than any other nation in the world — meets the president’s new goal of annual spending of 4 percent of nations’ gross domestic product. Washington spent 3.6 percent last year.
“During the president’s remarks today at the NATO summit he suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2 percent of their GDP on defense spending, but that they increase it to 4 percent. The president raised this same issue when he was at NATO last year,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.
“President Trump wants to see our allies share more of the burden and at a very minimum meet their already stated obligations,” she said.
Asked at a news confer- ence about the president’s request on defense spending, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg suggested that the focus should be on getting every member coun- try to reach the current goal of 2 percent. Only eight of 29 NATO countries are on track to meet the 2 percent goal this year.
Despite the president’s
request, allies sought to proj- ect unity at the conclusion of meetings in Brussels.
“We do have disagree- ments, but most importantly, we have decisions that are pushing this alliance forward and making us stronger,” Stoltenberg said. “At the end of the day, we all agree that North America and Europe are safer together.”
The decision to sign on to suggested is ing holding the support NATO that back for defense the the from president alliance, reduc- plans despite he says is his Europe’s view of taking what advantage of the U.S. secu- rity umbrella. NATO lead- ers are still concerned that he will make concessions to Russian President Vladimir Putin when the two meet on Monday in Helsinki. that differed from NATO lead- ers’ belief that the alliance should project a strong and united front against a strategic rival.
Trump is in Brussels for two days of NATO meetings. Following that, he will travel to England to meet with Brit- ish Prime Minister Theresa May, then spend the week- end at one of his private golf clubs in Scotland. Finally, he will head to Helsinki for a summit with Putin.
NATO members have agreed to a long list of efforts they believe will strengthen the alliance against Russia and other rivals, making it easier to speed military forces across Europe and toughen its counterterrorism initiatives.
Leaders plan to unveil two new military headquarters, one that would help secure the Atlantic Ocean in times of conflict and the other to speed military movement across Europe. They will bolster NATO missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. And they are expected to reconfirm their tough line on Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and their vow to continue to press the Kremlin to return it to Ukraine through sanctions and diplomacy.