Former President Donald Trump has committed to offering military assistance to NATO nations if members of the military alliance pay their fair share, pointing out that the United States is not obligated to pay for “everybody else.”
On March 19, in an interview with GB News, President Trump was asked whether America will defend nations like Poland if NATO states pay their bills properly. “Yes,” President Trump replied. “But the United States should pay its fair share, not everybody else’s fair share … I believe that the United States was paying 90 percent of NATO, that could be 100 percent.”
“It was the most unfair thing and don’t forget, it’s more important to them than it is to us,“ he added. ”We have an ocean between some problems … They will take advantage. They took advantage of us on trade, they took advantage on the military.”
When asked again if America will stand with NATO if the member states “play fair,” President Trump reaffirmed, “Yes. 100 percent.” However, he insisted on the European nations fulfilling their part of the commitment.
“Why should we guard these countries that have a lot of money and the United States was paying for most of NATO? When I went there, I had already had it out with them [in the past],” President Trump said. “They then stopped paying again. But now they’re paying because of those comments that you saw two, three weeks ago [from me when I visited]. I don’t know if you know, but a lot of money’s come in since those comments were made … NATO became strong because of me. Now NATO has to treat the U.S. fairly because if it wasn’t for the United States, NATO wouldn’t even exist. They took advantage of us like most countries do.”
“The United States accounted for 54 percent of the Allies’ combined GDP and 70 percent of combined defense expenditure. Total NATO military spending in 2022 was estimated to exceed USD 1 trillion.”
NATO Defense Commitment
President Trump’s earlier criticism about NATO not paying their fair share had triggered comments from the alliance’s officials. During a news conference in Brussels last month, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that member states are set to invest a total of $380 billion in defense this year.This combined expenditure is expected to meet the target of two percent GDP in 2024, he stated. Individually, while 31 allies have committed to boosting their defense spending to 2 percent, only 18 are expected to meet the target this year.
“The United States have never fought a war alone … The criticism we hear is not about NATO, it is about NATO allies not spending enough on NATO,” he said.
In a March 14 interview with CBS News, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith acknowledged President Trump’s contributions in making NATO nations meet their defense spending obligations.
“What we decided ten years ago is that every member of this alliance should spend 2 percent of their own GDP on their own defense … We started with just three allies in the alliance spending 2 percent, and this year, we’re going to be somewhere between 18 and 20 allies spending 2 percent. So, that’s a huge leap,” she said.
“I credit three U.S. Presidents—President Obama, President Trump, President Biden—they’ve all pushed on this. And now, we have two-thirds of the alliance spending what they need. We still have work to do. We’re going to get those other allies across the line in the next couple of years.”
“What is the role of NATO? Does our membership in NATO serve our national security interests? And if it does, then how much are we the American people willing to put on the line in our taxpayer dollars and in American lives? And how much are these NATO members willing to put on the line in their money and the lives of their citizens?”
She suggested that the United States should not put itself in a position where the majority of NATO funding comes from America while several other member states lag behind in meeting their targets.
“They expect us to put up the lives of my brothers and sisters in uniform to protect them when they’re not even willing to do that for themselves,” she said.
