free of charge. And in all cases for a substantially, you know, greater amount. We spend a substantially greater amount than what the people are paying.[1]
That same month, candidate Trump spoke to CBS News about U.S. spending to NATO. He said then:
NATO was set up when we were a richer country. We're not a rich country anymore. We're borrowing, we're borrowing all of this money . . . NATO is costing us a fortune and yes, we're protecting Europe with NATO but we're spending a lot of money. Number one, I think the distribution of costs has to be changed.[2]
As president, President Trump has continued to press European allies to contribute more NATO defense. For example, in a tweet on July 9, 2018, President Trump wrote:
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%, and NATO benefits…….[3]
Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary-General, acknowledged in an interview that President Trump's message has "helped" NATO member countries to increase defense spending, commending the President on "his strong message on burden sharing."[4]
NSC Senior Director Tim Morrison explained the President's specific views about burden sharing regarding Ukraine during his public testimony. He testified:
Q. And the President was also interested, was he not, in better understanding opportunities for increased burden sharing among the Europeans?
A. Yes.
Q. And what can you tell us about that?
A. The President was concerned that the United States seemed to—to bear the exclusive brunt of security assistance to Ukraine. He wanted to see the Europeans step up and contribute more security assistance.
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Shayna Freisleben, A Guide to Trump's Past Comments about NATO, CBS News, (Apr. 12, 2017).
- ↑ Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump), Twitter (Jul. 9, 2018, 7:55 a m.), https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1016289620596789248.
- ↑ David Greene, After Trump's NATO Criticism, Countries Spend More on Defense, NPR.org, (May 18, 2018).
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