Trump says NATO withdrawal is ‘unnecessary’ after allies agree to increase spending – By Sam Meredith 9cnbc.com) / July 12 2018
The U.S. president claimed NATO allies had made unprecedented commitments to increase spending on their own defense, before adding he believed he could pull out of the group without Congressional approval.
“We had a very intense summit,” German Chancellor also told reporters after the meeting.
US President Donald Trump arrives to attend the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) summit, in Brussels, on July 11, 2018.
President Donald Trump said NATO allies had committed to raising their defense spending beyond 2 percent on Thursday morning, following a flurry of public diatribes against key members of the 29-nation bloc.
“NATO is much stronger now than it was two days ago,” Trump told reporters, shortly after he had prompted an unscheduled crisis meeting among the group’s members.
The U.S. president claimed NATO allies had made unprecedented commitments to increase spending on their own defense, before adding he believed he could pull out of the group without Congressional approval.
Trump then said this would now be “unnecessary” after allies had agreed to increase their defense spending.
‘Intense’ meeting
Trump has long criticized Berlin and other NATO allies for “freeriding” on Washington’s defense capabilities. Currently only five of NATO’s 29 member states actually allocate the 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to military spending that they are formally committed to as part of the alliance. Those five are the U.S., the U.K., Greece, Estonia and Poland.
In May, Germany pledged to increase its defense spending to 1.5 percent of GDP by 2025, up from a low of 1.1 percent in 2015.
“We had a very intense summit,” German Chancellor also told reporters after the meeting.
On the first day of talks in the Belgian capital, the U.S. president publicly accused Germany — the second biggest state in the Western defense alliance — of being “totally controlled” by Russia. He suggested a string of energy oil and gas deals had given Moscow far too much influence over the continent’s largest economy.
Both Germany and Russia have since dismissed Trump’s accusation.
