Donald Trump is considering plans to push Nato members to increase defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP if he wins a second term in the White House, The Telegraph understands.
The former president thinks member states should be asked to contribute more to the alliance’s collective defence in light of threats from Russia and China.
He also believes the accounting rules should be changed so that spending on military assistance for Ukraine is not counted towards the target – a policy that would push several countries below the current target of 2 per cent of GDP.
“His thinking is evolving towards 3 per cent, especially after speaking to Duda – and that’s not including money for Ukraine,” said the source.
Luxembourg, which had the smallest budget for defence compared to its GDP, spent just 1 per cent, while Belgium and Spain spent 1.2 per cent.
Mr Trump said Europe has “taken advantage of us, both on Nato and on Ukraine”.
“If Europe is not going to pay, why should we pay?” he said. “Because they’re much more greatly affected. We have an ocean in between us [and Russia]. They don’t.”
@PartisanBobolinkPatriot2wks2W
Some governments would openly hate this.
But, for Trump & the US tax payers I think it's long overdue....
Do it properly or don't do it at all & live with the consequences....
Try telling that to the voters..
They will ignore it as long as they know that they can always count on the United States for their defense. The best way to highlight the alleged seriousness of defense spending is for the USA to leave NATO. That will either jump start the bigger countries to raise spending or end the farce of NATO. I am hoping for the latter.
In general I'm no fan of Trump, but on the issue of defence spending he's absolutely right. There's no reason at all that US tax dollars should in effect subsidise the welfare systems of western Europe.
We should recall that Poland has a 4% target and on course to meet that by 2030, it includes a land army of 350,000 which is quite likely to be five times that of the UK by then. There again, the Poles have a better understanding than most of the nature of Russian imperialism.
@ISIDEWITH2wks2W
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