Donald Trump claims Nato countries will increase defence spending but he appears to have exaggerated by how much
Trump threw the summit into turmoil by demanding not only that allies reach their commitment to increase spending to 2 per cent of GDP ‘immediately’ – instead of by 2024 as previously agreed – but also telling them to eventually double the figure to a punishing 4 per cent
US President Donald Trump said Nato countries had agreed to increase their defence spending after he forced crisis talks over his mounting demands at a fractious summit in Brussels.
Trump said there had been “tremendous progress” after his “firm” warnings during the tense two-day meeting in Brussels, during which he singled out Germany for special criticism.
“I let them know I was extremely unhappy with what was happening and they have substantially upped their commitment and now we’re very happy and have a very, very powerful, very, very strong Nato, much stronger than it was two days ago,” Trump said in a freewheeling press conference.
“Tremendous progress has been made, everyone’s agreed to substantially up their commitment they’re going to up it at levels they’ve never thought of before. It’s been amazing to see the level of spirit in that room.”
Trump threw the summit into turmoil by demanding not only that allies reach their commitment to increase spending to 2 per cent of GDP “immediately” – instead of by 2024 as previously agreed – but also telling them to eventually double the figure to a punishing 4 per cent.