In an almost unheard-of public confrontation between a sitting United States president and a NATO secretary general, President Donald Trump kicked off his European tour on Wednesday by seriously questioning the commitment of European countries to the alliance.
And he didn’t sound like the Russian puppet liberals that fantasize about — not at all.
In a harsh, breakfast-meeting exchange with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg – a former Norwegian prime minister – Trump sounded every inch the tough New York businessman who spent decades in real estate before going into politics.
.@POTUS on NATO defense spending: "It's very unfair to our country, it's very unfair to our taxpayer. And I think that these countries have to step it up not over a 10 year period— they have to step it up immediately." pic.twitter.com/nUzsldxapt
— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 11, 2018
“You know, we’re protecting Germany, we’re protecting France, we’re protecting everybody, and we’re paying a lot of money to protect,” Trump said. “Now, this has been going on for decades, this has been brought up by other presidents. – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]President Trump got a chilly reception Tuesday at the NATO summit in Brussels from anxious and angry European leaders, but he still can count on a few friendly faces in the old military alliance.
European Council President Donald Tusk set the scene by warning Mr. Trump that he is losing friends fast.
“Dear America, appreciate your allies. After all, you don’t have that many,” the former Polish prime minister said in a rebuke of Mr. Trump’s criticism of NATO nations who are not meeting their defense spending obligations.
Mr. Tusk represents the majority opinion — a decidedly skittish view of Mr. Trump — among the 29 NATO member countries.
Mr. Trump infuriated European heads of government by demanding that their countries pay their shares for NATO, by demanding new trade deals with better terms for the U.S. – READ MORE
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