Trump urges NATO countries to double military spending target

Polish President Andrzej Duda said Trump wanted to highlight "disproportionate" spending by the United States on security, adding that the issue was “the subject of a heated, strong debate” at a two-day NATO summit which closed in Brussels on Thursday.

The US spends 3.57 percent of its GDP on defence, according to NATO figures, while most allies are yet to reach the two percent target set at a summit in 2014.

Reacting to Trump’s suggestion that NATO countries should double their defence spending, the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: “We should first get to 2 percent”.

Only five of the alliance’s 29 countries have already reached the target, according to NATO.

At 1.98 percent, Poland is just shy of the goal.

But Duda said that was a "temporary situation." NATO expects Poland's spending to reach the 2 percent goal by the end of the year.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said that Trump “suggested that countries not only meet their commitment of 2 percent of their GDP on defence spending but that they increase it to 4 percent”.

“Trump wants to see our allies share more of the burden and at a very minimum meet their already stated obligations,” she added.

(vb/pk)

Source: IAR/Reuters