Trump now wants NATO allies to spend 4 percent of GDP on defense

Source: Washington Examiner
Published: Jul 11, 2018
Author: Steven Nelson
Post Date: 2018-07-11 21:28:40 by Tooconservative
Views: 2475

President Trump is suggesting that NATO allies double their military spending goal to 4 percent of their gross domestic product, the White House confirmed on Wednesday.

Trump previously pressed members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to raise their spending to 2 percent by 2024.

Most NATO nations spend less than 2 percent of their GDP on military programs, though the U.S. spends more. Trump has argued the U.S. effectively subsidizes its allies' defense.

The new 4 percent goal was initially disclosed by Bulgarian President Rumen Radev, a supporter of the idea, following a meeting with Trump, and was later confirmed by White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

“During the [p]resident’s remarks today at the NATO summit he suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2 percent of their GDP on defense spending, but that they increase it to 4 percent," Sanders said in a statement.

"The [p]resident raised this same issue when he was at NATO last year," Sanders said. "President Trump wants to see our allies share more of the burden and at a very minimum meet their already stated obligations.”

Before the summit in Brussels, Trump sent a letter to allies urging greater military spending. He said in a tweet subsequent to Sanders' statement:

What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy? Why are there only 5 out of 29 countries that have met their commitment? The U.S. is paying for Europe’s protection, then loses billions on Trade. Must pay 2% of GDP IMMEDIATELY, not by 2025.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 11, 2018

Radev first disclosed the requested 4 percent target to Bulgarian radio station BNR.

"Trump has urged NATO allies to move to a goal of 4 percent of their countries’ GDP spent on defense,” BNR quoted Radev as saying in Brussels.

“This is vital for the future of the organization," Radev said. "President Trump is right because every country should make a contribution in today’s world of growing uncertainty, and build effective capabilities. And in Bulgaria there is obvious reluctance in allocating funds to the armed forces."

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#1: paraclete    To: Tooconservative (#0)

I expect he wants them to step up and make up lost ground, but maybe it's an ambit claim to shock them into action. Germany is poor in defence spending as are others. American industry will be a big benefiter if there is more spending.

Sometimes Trump is right and this is one time

paraclete posted on 2018-07-11 21:33:02   Reply   Private Reply

#2: Pinguinite    To: Tooconservative (#0)

What good is NATO if Germany is paying Russia billions of dollars for gas and energy?

As though Russia, with a GDP on par with Italy, is a threat to western Europe?

From whom would this double increase in defense spending protect these countries from? The USSR? The USSR is history.

Europe has no threats. They don't need to double their defense spending and they don't need the USA to defend them from anyone.

The US should forget about the cold war from the 50's to the 80's, recognize it's the 21st century, drastically cut its military spending in Europe and let them spend their money on defense as they see fit.

Pinguinite posted on 2018-07-11 21:38:23   Reply   Private Reply

#3: Tooconservative    To: All, paraclete, Pinguinite, Vicomte13, A K A Stone (#0)

Trump really stuck it to the NATO deadbeats.

WaPo:

It was not clear whether Trump was threatening a U.S. withdrawal from NATO, but some diplomats perceived his comments that way.

Trump told NATO leaders that if they did not meet their defense spending targets of 2 percent of gross domestic product by January, the United States would go it alone, according to two officials briefed on the meeting. The officials said Trump threatened to “do his own thing.”

Asked at a news conference whether he could withdraw the United States from NATO without congressional approval, Trump replied, “I think I probably can, but that’s unnecessary.” He added: “The people have stepped up today” as they never have before. “Everyone in the room thanked me. There was a great collegial spirit in that room. . . . Very unified, very strong. No problem.”

And none of these summits are complete without the inevitable joint statement of solidarity and promises of Great Things To Come. Except after the Canadian G-7 last month, the Happy Mantra got spoiled. This time, the EUroweenies were taking no chances, even after Trump told them off and called them deadbeats to their faces.

DailyWire:

Leaders of member nations that belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pledged their "unwavering commitment" to increasing their defense funding of the organization after President Donald Trump slammed the group for treating the United States unfairly.

The commitment from European leaders came after Trump publicly embarrassed NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a meeting early on Wednesday morning. Fox News reports:

The U.S. and European allies signed a declaration stating they are "committed to improving the balance of sharing the costs and responsibilities of alliance membership."

The declaration comes after confrontational and testy discussions between Trump and other NATO leaders.

It takes a character as crude as Trump to finally tell off these deadbeat NATO assholes.

I liked especially how he told them that America may leave NATO if they don't all up their spending to 2% of GDP by January.

Tooconservative posted on 2018-07-12 07:55:33   Reply   Private Reply