President Donald Trump on Tuesday reversed his claim that NATO is obsolete, but continued his crusade for member states to spend more on defense to include potentially repaying the alliance for what he considers past-due bills.
“I said it was obsolete. It is no longer obsolete,” Trump said during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House. The two-hour meeting that preceded the on-camera appearance was the first face-to-face meeting of Trump and Stoltenberg.
Trump during his campaign for president and since his inauguration has harped on the need for NATO member states to meet obligations under a voluntary agreement signed during a 2014 summit in Wales. Signatories pledge to “aim to move toward” spending 2 percent of their respective gross domestic products (GDP) on defense, of which 20 percent should be spent on weapon acquisition and research and development.
“We must make sure that NATO members meet their financial obligations and pay what they owe,” Trump said. “They have not been doing that. If other countries pay their fair share instead of relying on the United States to make up the difference, we will all be more secure.”
NATO members do not owe the alliance anything, but invest in their own defense capabilities in proportion to their size and GDP as a contribution to a collective defense capability. Trump took the incorrect notion a step further in an aside, asking Stoltenberg about “money that hasn’t been paid over the years. Member states also contribute to a NATO cost-sharing fund, into which the United States contribution is capped at 22 percent.
“Is that money coming back?” Trump asked. “We’ll be talking about that. I want to talk about that, too.”
It was unclear which nations Trump accused of failing to uphold its contributions to NATO, but he has named Germany as an offender previously. Trump will meet with the heads of state of the other 27 NATO member states at a summit in Brussels scheduled for May 25.
Stoltenberg agreed in principal that NATO member states should invest more in their own militaries. In 2016, the alliance “turned a corner” when it increased by 3.8 percent – or $10 billion – collective defense spending. Five NATO member nations currently meet the 2 percent of GDP goal. Next year, the list is expected to grow to eight, Stoltenberg said.
“I expect all allies to make good on what they decided back in 2014,” Stoltenberg said, adding that he raised the issue “in all meetings in all capitals” he has visited as secretary general. Fair burden sharing has been a priority of his time in office.
“We are already seeing the effect of [Trump’s] strong focus on burden sharing,” Stoltenberg said. “It is about spending more on defense. It is about delivering the capabilities we need and it is about contributing to NATO forces and operations … We are now working to keep up the momentum, including making national plans for investment in defense.”
Trump said the alliance had regained his confidence because it promised to do more to fight international terrorism. NATO had plans to establish its own intelligence gathering division to step up its ability to fight international terrorism. That division opened after Trump complained publicly complained during the presidential campaign that NATO was unsuited to current security challenges.
“I hope NATO will do more to fight terrorism,” Trump said. “I made a complaint about that before and they made a change.”
He called for further “upgrading” NATO to focus on both migration and terrorism and to “resolve the disaster currently taking place in Syria.”
Trump also called for the alliance to step up participation in both Afghanistan and the war against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Stoltenberg said that all NATO member states are participating in the counter-ISIS coalition and that more than 1,000 troops from alliance member states have died fighting in Afghanistan.
Stoltenberg also reminded the audience that the only time NATO’s Article V collective defense clause has been invoked was after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. He agreed NATO “can and must do more in the global fight against terrorism.”
“NATO has experience, expertise and staying power to make a big difference,” especially when it comes to training local forces to combat terrorism, Stoltenberg said.