President calls out Nato allies ‘not paying for their own defence’
DONALD TRUMP yesterday used his first Nato summit to demand European countries pay more towards their defence.
The US president lectured an audience of European leaders that included Theresa May, Emmanuel Macron of France and Germany’s Angela Merkel.
“Nato members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations,” Mr Trump said, while the politicians looked on awkwardly.
“Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defence. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States.”
In a speech to dedicate a memorial to the Berlin Wall and the 9/11 attacks, Mr Trump also called for a moment’s silence for the victims of the Manchester terror attack.
“Terrorism must be stopped in its tracks or the horror you saw in Manchester, and so many other places, will continue for ever,” he said.
He called on Nato to reposition itself to fight terrorism and focus on immigration.
“You have thousands and thousands of people pouring into our various countries and spreading throughout, and in many cases we have no idea who they are,” he said.
Mr Trump was widely expected to reaffirm the US’S commitment to Article V of the Nato treaties, under which all allies pledge to come to the aid of a member under attack.
Instead, he devoted most of his speech to demanding Nato’s European members increase defence spending.
Britain is one of only five Nato members that currently meet the alliance’s target of spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence which was agreed in 2006.
Nato members had agreed in 2014 to hit the target by 2024, leaving Mr Trump claiming that allies owed billions for years of underpayments.
Earlier, Mr Trump and Emmanuel Macron, France’s new president, exchanged an awkward power handshake at their first meeting.
“Each president gripped the other’s hand with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening,” according to White House correspondents. Philip Rucker of the Washington Post said: “Trump tried twice to release and Macron held on tight … It was quite a handshake, two alphas.”
In the run-up to the French election, Mr Trump expressed support for Marine Le Pen, Mr Macron’s far-right opponent. But yesterday he said Mr Macron “ran an incredible campaign and had a tremendous victory. All over the world they’re talking about it”.
Mr Macron is reluctant to back Mr Trump’s demand for Nato to join the anti-isil coalition in Syria and Iraq, but he has pledged France will meet Nato’s 2 per cent spending target.
Mr Trump was also seen muscling himself to the front of a group of leaders during the summit, firmly pushing aside Dusko Markovic, prime minister of soon-to-be member Montenegro.
A few hours before Mr Trump met with European leaders, Barack Obama used an appearance at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to issue a thinly veiled attack on his successor. “The world order is at a crossroads,” he told a crowd of 70,000. “In this new world we live in, we can’t isolate ourselves, we can’t hide behind a wall.”
♦ President Trump’s travel ban looks set to go to the Supreme Court after a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that blocked it. The latest decision blocks the administration from suspending new visas for visitors from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.