Trump ratchets up NATO tensions

NATO leaders will seek to dampen a febrile atmosphere as their summit wraps up on Thursday with talks on Afghanistan and Ukraine, after US President Donald Trump stung allies with a shock demand to double defence spending.

The summit in Brussels is shaping up as the alliance’s most difficult in years, against a backdrop of growing unease about the threat from Russia and deepening transatlantic tensions in fields ranging from trade to energy.

Mr Trump has set a bombastic tone for the talks, unleashing a barrage of criticism against European allies, including a clash with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The US president, who has said his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week “may be the easiest” part of his European tour, kicked off the NATO meeting with a blistering attack on Germany, calling it a “captive” of Moscow because of its gas links.

He also demanded NATO members up their defence outlay to four per cent of GDP, from the current target of two per cent within 10 years agreed at a 2014 summit in Wales.

Bulgarian President Rumen Radev confirmed Mr Trump had made the demand and asked what it meant for the future of the alliance that has been the bedrock of European security for 70 years.

“NATO is not a stock exchange where you can buy security. NATO is an alliance of sovereign countries united by strategic targets and common values,” he told reporters.

But all 29 NATO leaders including Mr Trump backed a joint statement committing themselves to greater “burden sharing” and to the alliance’s founding commitment that an attack on one member is an attack on them all.

The mood was already prickly ahead of the summit, prompting a terse exhortation from the European Union’s president Donald Tusk for Mr Trump to “appreciate” his allies and reminding him that Europe had come to its aid following the 9/11 attacks.

Mr Trump has explicitly linked NATO with a transatlantic trade row by saying the EU shut out US business while expecting America to defend it.

The US leader has also singled out Germany for particular criticism over its defence spending. Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, spends just 1.24 per cent, compared with 3.5 per cent for the US.

NATO IS NOT A STOCK EXCHANGE WHERE YOU CAN BUY SECURITY. NATO IS AN ALLIANCE OF SOVEREIGN COUNTRIES RUMEN RADEV