NATO Countries Paying Up after President Trump’s Public Scolding
President Donald Trump Saturday tweeted that NATO member states have “agreed to step up payments considerably” and that “money is beginning to pour in” after his speech on Thursday scolding the nations’ leaders in Brussels.
Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger.
President Trump’s wording may not actually reflect how NATO is organized and how its funding occurs.
NATO does not have a specific fund where money goes, but instead, under NATO guidelines, nations fund defense spending for their own countries, and fall under the NATO protection umbrella.
NATO’s collective agreement in Y 2014 instructed its 28 member countries to spend at least 2% of their GDP (gross domestic product) on defense spending by Y 2024,
NATO records show that just 5 of the countries: the United States, Greece, Estonia, Poland and the United Kingdom are so far meeting that guideline.
Earlier this year, President Trump targeted Germany for not meeting the financing guidelines, but Daniel Benjamin, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that Germany and other member states do not pay the money to NATO, the United States, or any other country.
Germany has fallen short of its commitments, which is not good.
The President wrapped up his foreign trip with the G7 meetings in Taormina, Italy Saturday and is flying back to the US.
Saturday, Trump tweeted that his 1st focus at the meetings was on Terrorism.
Big G7 meetings today. Lots of very important matters under discussion. First on the list, of course, is terrorism. #G7Taormina
In addition Saturday, President Trump, made an announcement on Twitter, saying he will make a final decision next week on whether the US will stay in the Paris climate agreement, after resisting pressure from European leaders to remain in the agreement.
To all of our American readers, have a terrific Memorial Day weekend
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