Trump urges NATO countries to raise defense spending to 5% of GDP
Photo: US President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
NATO countries should increase their defense spending to 5% of GDP. It would be a fair approach to reduce the financial burden on the United States, stated US President Donald Trump at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
The American leader called on NATO member states to increase their defense expenditures.
"I'm also going to ask all NATO nations to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP, which is what it should have been years ago. It was only at 2% and most nations didn't pay until I came along," Trump said.
He emphasized that the US had previously paid this difference but considered it unfair.
"The United States was really paying the difference at that time and it was unfair to the United States," the US President stressed.
It’s worth noting that even before his inauguration, Trump had considered the possibility of the US withdrawing from NATO. He linked US participation in NATO to funding that, in his view, should be provided by European partners.
However, at the time, Trump stated that he was not against the US remaining in NATO if alliance members met his condition.
As mentioned in the RBC-Ukraine's material, Central and Eastern European countries that have reached the 2% benchmark are lobbying for further increases in defense spending.
Additionally, Bloomberg previously reported that NATO was already considering raising the defense spending target from 2% to 3% of GDP.
