US President Donald Trump stated that the USA strongly supports NATO; however, he warned the members of the North Atlantic Alliance about the necessity to pay due contributions, BBC reports.
«We resolutely support NATO. We just ask that all NATO member fully pay all necessary financial contributions; however, many do not do it. Many of them are not even close to doing it», he said, delivering speech at the Air Force Base in Florida.
The day before, during the phone conversation with NATO’s Secretary General Yens Stoltenberg, Trump agreed to have the meeting with NATO leaders in Europe in May.
According to the White House statement, Trump and Stoltenberg «discussed how to cooperate in order all NATO allies fulfilled their defense spending obligations».
During the pre-election campaign, Trump repeatedly called NATO ‘an obsolete union, which lost its role’.
He claimed that the USA should think twice before coming to the rescue of assailed NATO member country, if it does not pay due contribution to the union’s budget.
Currently, only 5 out of 27 member countries (Iceland does not have its own army) spend the due 2% of GDP for defense.
