President Trump berated America’s European allies on Monday for failing to meet their defense spending obligations while running massive trade deficits with the U.S.
The president directly linked the the trade discrepancies that inspired his heavy tariffs on metal imports to Western security in tweets that contradicted his NATO ambassador’s assessment a day prior that the policies should be evaluated separately from one another.
‘NATO benefits Europe far more than it does the U.S. By some accounts, the U.S. is paying for 90% of NATO, with many countries nowhere close to their 2% commitments,’ Trump said. ‘On top of this the European Union has a Trade Surplus of $151 Million with the U.S., with big Trade Barriers on U.S. goods. NO!’
President Trump derided America’s European allies on Monday for failing to meet their defense spending obligations while running massive trade deficits with the U.S.
The president directly linked the the trade discrepancies that inspired his heavy metal tariffs in tweets that contradicted his NATO ambassador’s assessment a day prior that the policies should be evaluated separately from one another
The president put trade on the table in talks that begin Wednesday in Brussels with the tweets that kicked off a day that was supposed to be focused on his Supreme Court appointment
The president put trade on the table in talks that begin Wednesday in Brussels with the tweets that kicked off a day that was supposed to be focused on his Supreme Court appointment.
Trump departs the U.S. for Belgium, where NATO recently opened it’s new headquarters, on Tuesday. He meets with European allies all day Wednesday and part of Thursday before a short stop in London for a working visit with Theresa May and a private audience with the queen.
His visit to Brussels was gearing up to be a repeat of the testy confrontation he had with leaders from allied nation in June at the G7 summit in Charlevoix.
The president who has complained since he was a candidate about NATO burden sharing was expected to pressure member nations to meet a soft goal of two percent GDP for defense spending that was agreed to by the group before he took office.
‘The United States is spending far more on NATO than any other Country. This is not fair, nor is it acceptable. While these countries have been increasing their contributions since I took office, they must do much more. Germany is at 1%, the U.S. is at 4%,’ he harped on Monday.
Trump at a Thursday evening rally had singled out Germany, as well. The president said at the campaign function that he’d told the country’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, that he believes Europe is benefited more by the security alliance because of its proximity to Russia than the U.S.
Germany puts 1.2 percent of its GDP toward the collective defense of NATO nations compared to the United States’ 4 percent, as Trump pointed out.
He repeated the charge in tweets on Monday and again brought up the EU’s trade deficit with the United States.
An outside view of the NATO building is seen at the NATO’s new headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. The security organization has its annual summit in Belgium this week
A day prior, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hucthison, had insisted on Fox News that trade and security were not related and should not be a subject of NATO talks.
‘One thing I will say is that in all of the disagreements that we have seen at the G7 and with allies with whom we are now having trade talks and negotiations and tariffs, that has not come up in the NATO context,’ she stated. ‘Our diplomats are professional and they are staying on our NATO issues, where we are 100 percent allied.’
Trump in his Monday morning messages invited world leaders to confront him in Brussels, where Hutchison had said that Russia’s malign activities and a rising China would be the foremost topics.
The president on Friday slapped $34 billion in tariffs on China that were aimed at reducing a trade deficit with the country that the U.S. has also accused of intentional intellectual property violations.
He is said to have told France’s Emmanuel Macron that the EU is worse than China on trade in some ways when the met last month at the G7.
The rift over trade and the president’s planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin set the stage for more uncomfortable conversations in Belgium.
Hucthsion pointed out on Sunday that Trump’s way of doing business had been effective, though, pointing out to increased contributions to NATO since he took office as an example.
‘NATO really is making progress and they are doing it really at President Trump’s insistence and I think that it’s very clear, and he’s been very direct about the Europeans needing to do more for their own security,’ she said. ‘Every ally is now increasing defense spending.’
Trump’s liason to NATO said, ‘We’ve had the largest increase in defense spending since the Cold War. And in the year and a half since President Trump has been in office, it has doubled since 2014.
‘So, I think he is making an impact and I think that the Europeans, including Chancellor Merkel just recently who has said we are going to do more,’ Hutchison said. ‘It we need to do more, it’s the right thing to do and she is encouraging her Bundestag, her parliament, to increase the defense budget so that we will be more fit for purpose in NATO for the fights that we want to deter.’
A day prior, U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Kay Bailey Hucthison, had insisted on Fox News that trade and security were not related and should not be a subject of NATO talks
Merkel said last month in a speech to parliament that she anticipates ‘very difficult’ talks in Brussels in pointed reference to the increasing complicated relationship between Germany and the United States in the era of Donald Trump.
‘It is no secret that the transatlantic alliance is under strain at the moment but we are convinced that the alliance remains central to our common security,’ the German chancellor said.
Trump hit back at her on Thursday evening, saying in remarks at a campaign event for a U.S. Senate candidate that Europe is killing the U.S. on trade and paying Russia billions for oil and gas all while complaining that it needs protection from Vladimir Putin’s government.
‘We’re paying anywhere from 70- to 90-percent to protect Europe. And that’s fine. Of course, they kill us on trade. They kill us on other things,’ he proclaimed. ‘So they want to protect against Russia, yet they pay billions of dollars to Russia and we’re the schmucks paying for the whole thing.’