28 May, 2017
"This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States", Trump declared, but the networks didn't want to have it.
The U.S., which has by far the largest military budget in the world, spends well more than that - 3.6 percent of GDP past year, for instance, according to The Economist. Only five members now meet the target: Britain, Estonia, debt-laden Greece, Poland and the United States, which spends more on defense than all the other allies combined.
Trump's address didn't mention Article 5, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation clause that requires members to defend others in the alliance, an affirmation of which was the primary goal for the Brussels meeting. "And we will win this fight", said Trump on Wednesday after meeting Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, whose own country suffered Islamic State suicide attacks in March 2016. The build-up was prompted by Russia's annexation of Crimea and accusations - denied by Moscow - that it is supporting a separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.Poland's foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said the troop presence was proof of Washington's commitment."It is much better than just a declaratory mention of Article V".
And he didn't really clarify the situation on Thursday.
"Look at the millions of cars they're selling in the U.S; bad... we will stop this", he reportedly told the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk, according to the New York Daily News.
But to European leaders, it fell far short of an explicit affirmation of Nato's Article 5 clause, the "one-for- all, all-for-one" principle that has been the foundation of the alliance since its establishment 68 years ago.
"We remember and mourn those almost 3,000 innocent people who were brutally murdered by terrorists on September 11th, 2001", he said.
In another crucial signal, Trump refused to reaffirm the value of NATO's Article 5 collective defense clause, the linchpin of NATO's unity and deterrence since the alliance's foundation in 1949. "I refused to do that", he said.
The split was starkest at Nato's headquarters, where Mr Trump used the dedication of a new building to lecture allies on their financial contributions.
He also barged aside the Montenegrin leader in front of cameras. Not so Trump today at #NATO. But according to Gary Cohn, whose role as National Economic Council director involves cleaning up his boss's messes, Trump totally didn't mean what he said. "We have a lot to discuss, including terrorism and other things".
