THIERRY CHARLIER/AFP/Getty Images(BRUSSELS) — Standing before NATO allies in Brussels, President Trump offered a strong rebuke of members who are not meeting defense spending obligations — saying it’s “not fair” to American taxpayers.
“I have been very, very direct with Secretary Stoltenberg and members of the alliance in saying that NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations. But 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying, and what they’re supposed to be paying for their defense,” said Trump.
“This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States, and many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years, and not paying in those past years,” said Trump.
Trump has been a vocal critic of NATO. “NATO is obsolete, it’s old, it’s fat, it’s sloppy,” he said out on the campaign trail.
The president’s Brussels meeting with the leaders is his fourth stop on his inaugural overseas trip. Monday night’s deadly terrorist attack in Manchester brings new urgency to the summit, where the fight against terror was already a key item on the agenda.
Ahead of the meeting, White House officials stressed that the president would continue pressing members of NATO to adjust their defense spending to meet the Wales pledge — at least two percent of their GDP.
During the campaign, the president cited cost-sharing and what he believed as NATO’s lack of focus on terrorism as reason for calling it “obsolete.”
“What I’m saying is NATO is obsolete,” Trump told ABC in an interview in March of 2016, “and it’s extremely expensive for the United States, disproportionately so. And we should readjust NATO. And it’s going to have to be either readjusted to take care of terrorism or we’re going to have to set up … a new coalition.”
Trump backtracked on his campaign rhetoric following his inauguration, declaring in an April 11 press conference alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that his mind had changed about the alliance.
“I said it was obsolete,” Trump said. “It’s no longer obsolete.”
Trump offered his sharp criticism at the unveiling of a memorial at the entrance to NATO with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The memorial includes a section of the steel wreckage of the World Trade Center towers, which recognizes the Article 5 collective defense treaty which was activated following the 9/11 attacks.
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