The US has asked members states of the NATO to increase their defence budgets. Donald Trump during the NATO summit demanded that other nations in NATO should be increased their defence budget to 4% of their respective GDPs. The NATO’s goal is to convince members states to spend 2% of their GDP on defence which is half of that demanded by the US.
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On the first day of the Brussels NATO summit, Donald Trump slammed other members for not spending enough on defence. This demand seems to be in line with his harsh tirades against the member nations on the first day.
According to Al Jazeera, a US diplomat clarified that this is not a formal proposal from the US Presidential but recommendatory in nature. He said that the US President has urged all the members of the 29 members group to increase their defence budget. During a press conference on the sidelines of the ongoing NATO summit, the US top diplomat said that all allies are increasing their defence expenditures. He added that as much as 8 member nations of the NATO have committed to increasing the defence budget to at least 2 % of their GDP and by 2024 all allied of the NATO aim to do so.
The US official also said that for years the nations have been reducing their defence budgets by billions but now billions are being added to their defence budgets.
US Slams Germany
As reported by The Guardian, Donald Trump called Germany as a captive of the Russians given its massive dependence on energy. He then accused the former German government officials of working for Russian energy companies and said that this is highly inept.
Donald Trump complained that it is sad that Germany is making big oil and gas deals with Russia. He said that the US has always guarded Germany against Russia but Germany rather pays millions of dollars to Russia under the mammoth oil and gas deals between Germany and Russia. Not just Germany but the US President slammed every other nation which is protected by the US and yet makes pipeline deals with Russia.
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