Former US President Donald Trump recently made a bombshell statement: he said he would not defend countries that did not meet NATO’s agreed target of spending 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.
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Moreover, Trump said that he would let Russia do what it wants.
Less than half of NATO countries have met the target of spending 2% of GDP on defense in 2023. The Alliance expects there will be many more in 2024.
NATO is set to make a public announcement that most member countries are on track to meet targets amid Trump’s recent rebuke, the Financial Times reports.
NATO spending has increased markedly since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Poland now spends the most on defense – 3.9% of GDP, ahead of the United States. This year, Germany, in particular, promised to fulfill its obligations to NATO.
I would encourage Russia to do whatever the hell they want,” Trump said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned the former US President’s statement.
Any suggestion that allies will not defend themselves undermines all of our security, including the security of the United States, he said.
According to Trump’s statement, 20 of the 31 NATO countries may be left without US military support. These include small countries such as Montenegro (1.87% of GDP for defense as of 2023), North Macedonia (1.87%), Albania (1.76%), Slovenia (1.35%), Belgium . (1.13%) and Luxembourg (0.72%).
In addition, there are large states that are members of NATO, but do not reach the specified defense expenditures. These are France (1.9%), the Netherlands (1.7%), Italy (1.46%), Canada (1.38%), Turkey (1.31%) and Spain (1.26%).
Germany is within this group and spends 1.57% of gross domestic product on defense. However, the German government says that the desired target can be achieved this year.
It is noteworthy that in terms of ratio, it is not the United States that spends the most in the military sphere (3.49%), but Poland (3.9%). At the same time, the US military budget is $860 billion, which is twice as much as the rest of the NATO countries put together into defense.
Hard Biden
US President Joseph Biden on February 13 moved to openly criticize Trump, who admitted that he would allow Russia to attack NATO members that are not investing enough in defense.
According to him, Trump, with his words about NATO, “sent a dangerous, shocking and truly un-American message to the world” and “gave Putin the go-ahead to invade some NATO member countries that are our allies.”
He added that Trump does not understand the nature of the Alliance, “built on the fundamental principles of freedom, security and national sovereignty” because for him “principles are never important and everyone is a commodity.”
Biden assured that if during his presidency “Putin attacks a NATO ally, the United States will defend every inch of the Alliance’s territory.”
How to keep Trump’s promise
Trump’s top national security adviser, Kellogg, is proposing restrictions on NATO members that don’t spend enough on defense.
Kellogg, who headed the National Security Council for some time during the Trump administration, proposes that in the event of insufficient defense spending, NATO members should be deprived of the collective protection provided for in Art. 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty.
In addition to the loss of NATO protection under Art. 5, Kellogg said, other, less severe sanctions are possible – such as exclusion from general exercises or weapons resources
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Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.