At NATO celebration, Trump tells allies to spend more on defense – Los Angeles Times

May 25, 2017, 8:37 a.m.

President Trump used his first NATO meeting to rebuke member nations who fail to meet the trans-Atlantic alliances defense spending target, saying American taxpayers unfairly are left to pick up the slack.

Speaking atdedication ceremonies for NATOs new headquarters, Trump noted that the defense budgets of 23 of the 28 members dont meet a target equal to 2% of each respective nations economic output, whilethe United States has spentmore on defense in eight years than the other 27 combined.

Many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years, he said. We have to make up for the many years lost.

By his scolding, Trump was directly delivering to NATO allies the criticism that was a staple of his nationalist campaign for president. But hislecture came at an event intended to be celebratory, showcasing unity and resolve for the nearly 70-year-old alliance: the dedication of its shining, glass-enclosed new headquarters in Belgiums capital.

The ceremony also was meant to call attention to the fact that the only time NATO has invoked its collective defense agreement was on behalf of the United States, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington. Trump stood beside a section of wrenched steel from the downed World Trade Center Towers, a relic NATO calls the Article V artifact, to signify that post-9/11 invocation of the NATO charters article holding that an attack on any one member would be considered an attack on all.

Speaking to reporters before the president arrived, NATO Secretary-GeneralJens Stoltenbergacknowledged that thealliance had a long way to go to meet its goals.

But its much better than it was just two years ago, he said. The reality is that when we decrease defense spending when tensions are going down, as we did after the end of the Cold War, we have to be able to increase defense spending when tensions are going up. And now we see that tensions are going up.

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At NATO celebration, Trump tells allies to spend more on defense - Los Angeles Times