Trump pressures leaders to increase NATO spending
He has been critical that some don’t meet commitment
USA TODAY BRUSSELS President Donald Trump on Thursday called on fellow leaders of NATO countries to spend more money on security, while he failed to explicitly endorse the group’s commitment to collective defense in his remarks at the military alliance’s headquarters.
Trump has never formally endorsed the NATO treaty’s Article 5 commitment that an attack on one member country will be treated as an attack on all, making his silence on the subject in an address Thursday especially striking. The president who has touted an “America First” foreign policy did, however, refer more generally to “the commitments that bind us together as one” and promised to “never forsake the friends who stood by our side.”
refusal to explicitly endorse Article 5 raised some eyebrows.
Ivo Daalder, the NATO ambassador under President Barack Obama, tweeted: “Deeply disappointing that Trump failed to reaffirm U.S. commitment to collective defense. Major missed opportunity.”
Trump’s first joint meetings with NATO leaders are largely ceremonial. They include a working dinner and dedication ceremonies at the new NATO headquarters building, including memorials to the fall of the Berlin Wall and to Article 5 of the NATO charter.
After Trump’s speech, White House spokesman Sean Spicer said it should have been assumed that Trump backed Article 5, given the fact he was speaking at the dedication of a memorial to it. “We’re not playing cutesy with this. He’s fully committed,” Spicer told reporters. “There’s 100 percent commitment to Article 5.”
And ahead of Trump’s remarks, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that “of course we support Article 5” and noted that the only time NATO has invoked it was after the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
The new Article 5 memorial at the new NATO headquarters building is a piece of the wreckage from the destroyed World Trade Center. Praising the new building, Trump said: “I never asked once what the new NATO headquarters cost. I refuse to do that. But it is beautiful.”
As Trump encouraged members to “contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations” to NATO, he urged the military alliance to focus more on stopping terrorism to remain relevant in the 21st century.
“All people who cherish life must unite in finding, exposing and removing these killers and extremists — and, yes, losers; they are losers,” Trump said.
NATO announced it would join a global coalition to battle the Islamic State, though not in any combat role.
Before NATO’s announcement, all 28 members of the alTrump’s liance were already members of the coalition battling the group known as ISIS. Some countries had opposed NATO inclusion, concerned that it might be drawn into a ground war in the Middle East.
Trump stressed that the U.S. is one of only five members in the 28-nation alliance that has hit the target of spending 2 percent or more of gross domestic product on military defense.
“I have been very, very direct with (NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg) and members of the alliance in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations, for 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they’re supposed to be paying for their defense,” Trump said.
“If all NATO members had spent just 2 percent of their GDP on defense last year, we would have had another $119 billion for our collective defense and for the financing of additional NATO reserves,” he said.