Donald Trump on Tuesday pressured NATO members to increase their defense spending to five percent of gross domestic product, underscoring his long-standing claims that they are underpaying for American security.
“They can all afford it, but they should be five percent, not two percent,” the incoming US president told reporters.
“Europe is only going to get a fraction of the money that we have,” Trump said. “There’s a thing called an ocean between us, OK? We’re going to have billions of dollars more money than Europe.” Why?”
Trump has long been skeptical of NATO, a cornerstone of security in Europe since World War II, and last month he repeated a familiar threat to leave the alliance if its members did not increase spending.
The transatlantic alliance’s 32 countries have set a two percent of GDP floor for defense spending through 2023, and Russia’s war in Ukraine has jolted NATO into strengthening its eastern flank and increasing spending.
Trump isn’t the only top official to call for an increase — NATO chief Mark Rutte also said last month that “we’ll need more than two percent.”
Rutte also warned that European countries are unprepared for the risk of future war with Russia, calling on them to “turbocharge” their defense spending.
In remarks Tuesday, Trump claimed President Joe Biden decided Ukraine should be able to join NATO, suggesting this helped spur Russia’s all-out invasion in February 2022.
Trump said, “Somewhere along the way, Biden said, no, they should be able to join NATO. Well, Russia has someone on the doorstep, and I can understand his feeling about that.”
NATO allies actually agreed to Ukrainian membership in 2008 – when Republican President George W. Bush was in office – while the United States and Germany have recently backed off from allowing Kiev to join out of fears that This could put the alliance in a crisis. War with Russia.
Trump has vowed to press for a quick deal to end Russia’s war, raising concerns about the future of US military aid to Kiev to help resist Moscow’s onslaught. Is important.
“The conflict should never have started,” Trump said Tuesday. He said, “I guarantee you, if I were president, the war would never have happened.”
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