WATCH: President Trump won't protect countries from Russian attack unless he pays enough for NATO
President Donald Trump's proposal that the United States not protect North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies that do not spend enough on defense “undermines all of our national security,” the head of a Western military alliance said. Ta.
Jens Stoltenberg also suggested it would put U.S. and European forces at greater risk.
The Republican said he told allies he would “encourage” Russia to attack NATO members that fail to meet the alliance's goal of 2% of gross domestic product (GDP).
NATO members pledge to defend any country in the bloc that is attacked.
The White House criticized Trump's comments, calling them “appalling and outrageous.”
Trump recalled presenting a hypothetical situation in which the leader of a “great power” was not meeting its financial obligations within NATO and was under attack from Moscow.
He said the leader asked whether the United States would support his country in that scenario, leading to his reprimand.
“I said, 'Are you not paying? Are you in arrears?'…'No, I'm not going to protect you. I'd rather encourage them to do whatever they want to do. .You have to pay.'”
The front-runner for the Republican nomination for this year's presidential election did not say which country or leader he was talking about, or even when the conversation took place.
NATO's own 2023 spending statistics show that 19 of its 30 members are spending less than their annual 2% of GDP target on defense, including Germany, Norway and France.
However, most countries bordering Ukraine, Russia, or neighboring and ally Belarus exceed this guideline.
Poland spends more than 3.9% of its GDP annually, even more than the United States. Defense spending for Romania, Hungary, Finland, and the Baltic states Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia is between 2.3% and 2.7%.
In a statement on Sunday, Stoltenberg stressed that the alliance remains “ready and able” to defend its members and that any attack “will be met with a united and strong response.”
But he said that “any suggestion that allies will not defend each other undermines all of our national security,” suggesting that Trump's comments “put American and European soldiers at risk.”
“No matter who wins the presidential election, we expect the United States to remain a strong and committed NATO ally,” he added.
Earlier, a White House spokesperson said Trump was “encouraging a brutal regime to invade our closest allies,” calling the remarks “appalling and unabashed.”
The statement further said it “jeopardizes the national security of the United States, global stability, and the domestic economy.”
Mr. Trump has long criticized NATO and the excessive financial burden it places on the United States to guarantee the defense of 30 other nations.
Dr Patrick Berry, a defense and security expert and former NATO analyst, told the BBC that Mr Trump was upset that some NATO countries in Europe were not spending 2% of their budget on the military as NATO would like. He said it reflected the anger of the United States.
“It's right to fight tough with our NATO allies, but it all depends on how far we go. These comments really go too far,” he said.
But he said the statements had an impact at a time when Russia's economy was on a war footing and its military spending exceeded that of European countries.
“If Trump were in the White House and there was a split in NATO over Ukraine…or if NATO was split over how to respond to a small-scale invasion that would theoretically trigger Article 5. “That's what the NATO alliance is concerned about – if that's the case,” he said.
Russia will begin a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 after Trump leaves office. Since then, he has lamented the amount of money the US sends to Ukraine, which is not a NATO member.
The US has provided more financial aid to Ukraine than any other country, totaling more than $44bn (£34bn) since the invasion in 2022, according to December White House figures. ing.
But Congressional Republicans have blocked all new funding since the start of the year and called for tough measures to restrict immigration into the United States at the southern border, rejecting an amended bill introduced earlier this week.
Trump celebrated the rejection at a rally Saturday, calling President Biden's proposal “disastrous.”
