Trump Calls For Major NATO Shakeup: ‘Ripping Us Off’
President Trump announced that he intends to continue with a major foreign policy pursuit from his first term by pushing to require members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to contribute more to defense spending.
During a lengthy Oval Office press conference on Tuesday night, Trump was asked whether he intends to continue the flow of humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. While on the campaign trail, Trump promised to work towards crafting a peace treaty with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Well, we’ll look into that. We’re talking to Zelensky. We’re going to be talking with President Putin very soon. And we’ll see what how it all happens,” Trump said when asked about the possibility of continued support for Ukraine’s war effort. “One thing I do feel, the European Union should be paying a-lot more than they’re paying. Because under Biden, I mean, we’re in there for $200 billion more. Now, it affects them more than it affects us. We have an ocean in between, right? Little thing called an ocean,” the president added.
Trump stressed that the European Union should be paying as much, if not more, than the United States if the War in Ukraine is to continue. “We’re in there for 200 billion dollars more than the European Union. I mean, what are we stupid? They must think so,” Trump added. The president concluded the question on Ukraine by calling on NATO countries to increase defense spending, a foreign policy goal he pursued aggressively during his first term.
“And one thing on that, I think they should lift their number not to two percent, but to five percent. NATO should be at five percent, not at two percent,” Trump said in reference to the agreement that requires NATO countries to commit two percent of their respective gross domestic product (GDP) to defense spending.
When Trump first took office in 2017, just six out of 29 member nations were paying the required two percent at the time. The president aggressively pushed for NATO countries to increase their defense spending due to the threat of Russian aggression, a proposal that drew laughs from European leaders at the time.
“Members of the alliance must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations,” Trump said during a meeting with NATO leaders in Brussels at the time. “Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defense. This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States,” he added.
The War in Ukraine caused NATO countries to rapidly re-think their lack of defense spending, however. As of this report, 23 out of 32 current NATO members have reached the agreed upon two percent threshold, while others are working to achieve it.