Trump Threatens to Pull US out of NATO
President Donald Trump’s demands that NATO member nations dramatically increase their spending on defense led leaders of the military alliance to meet in an emergency session on Thursday, officials said.
President Donald Trump’s demands that NATO member nations dramatically increase their spending on defense led leaders of the military alliance to meet in an emergency session on Thursday, officials said.
Two officials attending the summit confirmed the session. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the development.
He said that allies were probably worried because the US was not being treated fairly, but now it was.
“Countries are going to start upping their commitments… I let them know I was extremely unhappy with what was happening, and they have substantially upped their commitments.” Independent reported.
Asked if he could pull the US out of Nato without the approval of Congress, he said: “I think I probably can, but that’s unnecessary.”
On Wednesday, Trump had hinted he wanted member states to pay 4 per cent of their GDP to Nato, a doubling of the current commitments.
Speaking Thursday, he said that, “right now we’re getting people up to 2 percent.”