NATO Chief: Allies Heard Trump, Will Increase Spending

Claims member states are committed to spend another $100 billion

Following a series of US media reports on President Trump threatening to leave NATO at the July summit, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is emphasizing that the alliance “heard” Trump’s demands for spending increases “loud and clear.

To that end, Stoltenberg says that the alliance responded to Trump calling them “delinquent” by adding another $100 billion to their military spending over the course of the next two years.

Trump, of course, was demanding far more than that. During the summit, Trump not only echoed long-standing US demands to spend 2% of their GDPs on military, but upped the demand to 4%.

Stoltenberg wasn’t particularly clear where most of this new spending is coming from, but reports indicate that only about half of the alliance will be up to the 2% of GDP spending goal by the end of 2024.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.