Trump, Merkel clash at NATO meet
BRUSSELS US President Donald Trump traded barbs with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a tense NATO summit yesterday after he accused Berlin of being captive to Russia and demanded it immediately step up defence spending.
The two-day meet in Brussels is shaping up as the alliances most difficult in years, with Europe and the US engaged in a bitter trade spat and Trump demanding that NATO allies reimburse Washington for the cost of defending the continent.
Merkel shot back that Germany had the right to make its own policy choices, setting up an explosive one-on-one meeting with Trump later in the afternoon.
European alliance members were braced for criticism from Trump on defence spending, but his blistering attack on Germany at a breakfast meeting with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg took the summit by surprise.
Germany is a captive of Russia because it is getting so much of its energy from Russia, Trump said, taking particular aim at the proposed Nord Stream II gas pipeline, which he has previously criticised.
Everybodys talking about it all over the world, theyre saying were paying you billions of dollars to protect you but youre paying billions of dollars to Russia.
Merkel ramped up the febrile atmosphere of the summit with a sharp reply on arriving at NATO headquarters.
I myself have also experienced a part of Germany being controlled by the Soviet Union, she said.
I am very glad that we are united today in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany and that we can therefore also make our own independent policies and make our own independent decisions.
Step it up
Trump has long complained that European NATO members do not pay enough for their own defence, accusing them of freeloading on America and singling out Germany for particular criticism.
NATO allies agreed at a summit in Wales in 2014 to move towards spending 2 per cent of GDP on defence by 2024. But Germany, Europes biggest economy, spends just 1.24 per cent, compared with 3.5 per cent for the US.
These countries have to step it up not over a 10 year period, they have to step it up immediately, Trump said.
Were protecting Germany, France and everybody... this has been going on for decades, Trump said. Were not going to put up with it, we cant put up with it and its inappropriate.
Stoltenberg acknowledged that Trump had expressed himself in very direct language but insisted that away from the fiery rhetoric the allies all agree on fundamental issues: the need to boost NATOs resilience, fight terror and share the cost of defence more equally.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country also lags on the 2 per cent pledge, said the focus should be on outputs rather than on how much is spent.
Trump will meet the Russian leader in the Finnish capital on July 16 for their first summit amid an ongoing investigation in the US into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia.
European diplomats fear a repeat of last months divisive G7 in Canada,
when Trump clashed with his Western allies before meeting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un at a summit and praising him as very talented.
There have been fears that Trump, keen to be seen to make a breakthrough with the Kremlin strongman, might make concessions that would weaken Western unity over issues such as Ukraine and Syria.
US ambassador to NATO Kay Bailey Hutchison urged allies to look beyond Trumps rhetoric and focus on the summit declaration which the US is expected to back which will be the basis for the alliances work over the coming years.
And she said she expected Trump to recommit to one of the founding articles of NATO Article 5 which holds that an attack on one member is an attack on them all. AFP