- Sputnik International
World
Get the latest news from around the world, live coverage, off-beat stories, features and analysis.

Trump Schools EU NATO Allies Over Defense Spending in Tweet Ahead of Key Summit

© REUTERS / John MacDougallFrench President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump confer at the start of the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and US President Donald Trump confer at the start of the first working session of the G20 meeting in Hamburg, Germany, July 7, 2017. - Sputnik International
Subscribe
The issue of NATO members' defense spending on the alliance is expected to be high on the agenda of the two-day NATO summit slated to kick off in Brussels on July 11.

In a tweet on Monday, US President Donald Trump once again demanded that NATO countries contribute more to the alliance in terms of defense spending.

He stressed that the situation with some NATO members spending less on the alliance is "not fair, nor is it acceptable."

Trump added that "NATO benefits Europe far more than it does the US," recalling that "the US is paying for 90% of NATO, with many countries nowhere close to their 2% commitment."

His remarks came a week after US Defense Secretary James Mattis wrote a letter to his British counterpart Gavin Williamson to warn that the two countries' special relationship will be damaged if London fails to increase its defense spending on NATO.

READ MORE: Tusk Warns 'Immense Pressure' From Trump May Lead to NATO Collapse – Reports

Mattis made it clear that while the UK may want to "remain the US partner of choice," France is already boosting its defense spending as it is willing to replace Britain in this respect.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg holds up a ceremonial hammer at the start of a NATO-Georgia defence ministers meeting at the Alliance headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 16, 2017. - Sputnik International
Europeans Split on Boosting Defense Spending to Meet NATO Targets - Poll
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to inject an estimated extra 295 billion euros into the country's defense budget by 2025.

In a separate development last week, Trump sent personal letters to the leaders of Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg, Norway and the Netherlands, urging them to spend more on defense and calling their current share in the NATO budget "unfair."

The Trump administration has repeatedly pressured European states to inject greater sums in NATO, citing most EU countries' inability to meet the alliance's defense spending target of 2 percent of their GDP.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала