Merkel disputes Trump’s NATO debt claim – The Boston Globe

Posted: March 21, 2017 at 11:33 am

German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke during a joint press conference with President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House.

BERLIN (AP) Chancellor Angela Merkel is underlining Germanys rejection of a claim by President Donald Trump that it owes NATO large sums for underspending on defense. She is also pointing to a history of decades of post-World War II military restraint.

Trump tweeted Saturday that Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO. Germany is short of a NATO target of spending 2 percent of gross domestic product on defense, with the figure currently at 1.23 percent.

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Merkel said Monday defense spending is not just about contributions to NATO, but also about European contributions in Africa for example, U.N. missions. She added: Not a single NATO member state pays its entire defense budget into NATO.

Merkel said that defense spending cant be uncoupled from historical developments from one day to the next.

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Merkel disputes Trump's NATO debt claim - The Boston Globe

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