WASHINGTON – President Trump said Thursday that NATO should remain “strong” – the top military alliance officials praised him for causing a “superficial” boost to military spending among members of the 32-nation agreement.
Trump presented himself as a major defender of the Transatlantic Alliance as he met with Russian officials in Moscow to negotiate a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
“We need to keep NATO strong,” Trump said at the Oval Office, hosting former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Latte.
Since rejoining the White House on January 20, Trump has repeatedly put pressure on European countries to boost military spending during his first term, after Latte praised him for further escalation of arms purchases.
The statement was well-known as Trump drew a united front in negotiations to end a three-year war between the Alliance and Russia-funded and armed Ukraine, which led him to draw a united front after bringing the willingness to protect European countries that had previously not paid for it.
“You basically sent out the fact that in Europe you're receiving a total of $700 billion in defense than when you took office in 2016 and 2017. But that was the Trump 45,” Latte said.
“When you look at Trump 47, it's really amazing what's happened in the last few weeks. Europeans are committed to a package of $800 billion in defence spending. Germans can now be up to five billion extras in defence spending. And of course, you had. [UK Prime Minister] Here, Kiel's first Starmer, British Prime Minister, and others are all committed to much higher defensive spending. ”
Latte said he wanted to work with Trump to ensure NATO “is really cheered up under your leadership and we're getting there.”
Trump recalled how to arm many NATO countries strongly to raise defence spending to a minimum of 2% of GDP during his first term. He recently asked to set that threshold at 5%.
“I was able to raise hundreds of millions of dollars. I said, 'If you don't pay, we're not going to get involved with you.' And the money began to pour out. And NATO has become much stronger for my actions,” Trump said of his first term.
“I said, 'No, if you're not paying, if you're not paying, or if the money isn't paid, why do we do it?” And as soon as I said it, I got a bit of a hit from the press. Because they said, “Oh, that's not a very good thing.”
“NATO has become stronger from that perspective, and now we have to use it wisely,” Trump said.
