WASHINGTON – Ahead of the NATO Summit in Brussels next week, PresidentDonald Trump has said he would ask NATO members to start paying their billsas the US is not going to take care of everything.

Trump will travel to Brussels, the headquarters of NATO in Belgium, onMonday where he is expected to call on members of the security alliance toincrease their own defence spending.

“I’ll see NATO and I’m going to tell NATO — you got to start paying yourbills. The US is not going to take care of everything,” Trump said at acampaign rally in Montana last night. He lashed out at Europe over defencespending and trade, saying the US is paying for anywhere from 70 to 90 percent to protect Europe, but the European countries are not fair to the USon trade.

“They kill us on trade. They kill us on other things. They make itimpossible to do business in Europe, and yet they come in and they selltheir Mercedes and their BMWs to us. So we have USD 151 billion in tradedeficits with the EU. On top of that, they kill us with NATO. They killus,” he said.

He directly addressed German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a key G7 member,from the rally, saying, “The US pays four per cent of a huge GDP…andGermany which is the biggest country of the European Union, pays 1 percent. And I said, you know, Angela, I can’t guarantee it, but we’reprotecting you, and it means a lot more to you than protecting us because Idon’t know how much protection we get by protecting you.”

“And then they go out and make a gas deal, oil and gas, from Russia, wherethey pay billions and billions of dollars to Russia. So they want toprotect against Russia, and yet they pay billions of dollars to Russia, andwe are the schmucks that are paying for the whole thing,” he said.

Trump said after he came to power, almost USD 33 billion more is projectedto be paid by the NATO nations. “But it’s not enough. Do they ever tell youthat? No, no. But I will tell you, the Secretary-General Stoltenberg isTrump’s biggest fan. He says, those NATO nations are going like this, lessmoney, less money. Why not? When you started talking, it went like a rocketship. Went just like a rocket ship,” he said.

In a conference call with reporters, US Permanent Representative to NATOKay Bailey Hutchison said the emphasis during the summit meeting would beon burden-sharing.