DONALD Trump left allies confused after seemingly hinting that the US could leave Nato, while simultaneously hailing the two-day summit in Brussels as a great success.
He both lashed out at the other members of the alliance, while also praising them fulsomely.
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According to reports, Trump had told other Nato members to raise their defence spending to 4% of GDP, and to hit the target of 2% of GDP by January or else the US would “do our own thing”.
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A joint communique, signed by all 29 members on Wednesday had suggested the ambition of 2% of GDP would be something to be aimed for in six years.
However, Trump later rubbished that on Twitter.
And then yesterday morning at an emergency meeting, sources reported Trump as saying: “We are being played for fools. Every single US president has been pushing the point of extra spending since Reagan and they have all been played. I am not going to be.”
However, a short while later, at an impromptu press conference, his first in over a year, Trump said: “Nato is now a fine-tuned machine.”
“There’s a great, very collegial spirit in that room,” he said. “Very unified, very strong, no problem”
Trump, was asked if he would renege on his funding agreements at Nato in a tweet later on. “No, that’s other people that do that,” he replied. “I’m very consistent. I’m a very stable genius.”
Trump said other Nato countries had agreed to significant increases in military spending in response to his demands.
Soon after, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said this was not accurate.
He said the allies had simply agreed to keep previous commitments to increase military spending to 2% GDP by 2024.
“A communique was issued yesterday,” Macron said. “This communique is clear. It reaffirms the 2% by 2024 commitments. That’s all.”
The US is by far the biggest contributor to NATO, funding more than a fifth of the alliance’s budget. It also has the most powerful armed forces and spends 3.57% of national income on defence.
Only four other member states, including Britain, hit the 2% target.
Trump’s rant about defence spending overshadowed the rest of the summit, including a 23-page declaration setting out the alliance’s plans, which included measures to counter Russian aggression.
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