BRUSSELS- President Donald Trump told NATO allies to “reimburse” the UnitedStates for defence costs as he landed for the alliance s most difficultsummit in years.
Trump touched down in Brussels aboard Air Force One hot on the heels of astern warning from the EU s top official that America should “appreciate”its allies.
The leaders of the other 28 members of the NATO alliance are hoping for ashow of unity despite stark transatlantic tensions on a host of issues,most notably Trump s repeated invective against Europe over defencespending.
“Many countries in NATO, which we are expected to defend, are not onlyshort of their current commitment of 2% (which is low), but are alsodelinquent for many years in payments that have not been made,” he tweetedwhile his plane was in the air. “Will they reimburse the U.S.?”
Trump had said before leaving Washington that his meeting in Helsinki withRussian President Vladimir Putin next Monday “may be the easiest” part ofhis upcoming European tour, which also includes a trip to Britain, wherethe government is in crisis over Brexit.
“Frankly, Putin may be the easiest of them all. Who would think?” he toldreporters.
He vowed not to be “taken advantage” of by the European Union, which heaccuses of freeloading by relying on the United States for its defencewhile blocking US imports into the bloc, the world s biggest market.
“It s certainly going to be an interesting time with NATO,” Trump toldjournalists.
The meeting of Western leaders in Brussels has the potential to turn intoanother public bust-up following a divisive and bad-tempered summit of G7nations in Canada in June.
Trump has ramped up his rhetoric ahead of the talks — including in threeseparate tirades on Twitter on Monday and Tuesday — making the summit oneof the most difficult in years for the military alliance that hasunderpinned European security since World War II.
European officials have expressed hopes that member states can paper overtheir differences, but European Union President Donald Tusk delivered ablunt message to the US leader on Tuesday.
“Dear America, appreciate your allies, after all you don t have that many,”Tusk said, before reminding Trump that European troops had fought alongsideAmericans in Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on theUnited States.
“Please remember this tomorrow when we meet at the NATO summit, but aboveall when you meet President Putin in Helsinki. It is always worth knowingwho is your strategic friend and who is your strategic problem,” he said.
Trump will meet the Russian leader in the Finnish capital on July 16 fortheir first summit amid an ongoing investigation in the US into possibleTrump campaign collusion with Russia.
Many European diplomats fear a re-run of a sequence in June when Trumpclashed with his Western allies at the G7 summit, calling Canadian PrimeMinister Justin Trudeau “dishonest and weak”, then praised North Koreandictator Kim Jong Un as “very talented” at a summit afterwards.
“He chews out the allies then embraces the adversary,” one diplomat toldAFP recently.
Trump set the stage for clashes at the NATO summit by writing to around adozen allies to berate them for lagging on a 2014 pledge to try to spendtwo percent of GDP on defence by 2024.
Speaking to a cheering crowd at a rally this week, Trump told them that theUS would no longer be “the schmucks paying for the whole thing.”
According to a joint declaration prepared in advance of the summit, whichwas seen by AFP, NATO members will make an “unwavering commitment to allaspects of the defence investment pledge agreed at the 2014 Wales Summit”which includes the 2.0-percent target.
But it adds that they will also “submit credible national plans on itsimplementation” in language that will perhaps please the US president.
New figures published on Tuesday showed that only seven European NATOcountries — Britain, Greece, Latvia, Estonia, Poland, Lithuania andRomania — would reach the 2.0-percent spending target in 2018.
But NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg pointed out that military spending had beenrising in Europe since 2014 and members were making efforts to meet theobjective, particularly Germany, which is often singled out by Trump forcriticism.
Europe s biggest economy is on course to spend just 1.24 percent of GDP ondefence in 2018.
US ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison told reporters that Trump wouldalso recommit to one of the founding articles of NATO — Article 5 — whichholds that an attack on one member is an attack on them all. – APP/AFP