Trump Camp Considers Picking New Fight With NATO On Budgets

13 comments

1. Advisers for Donald Trump have floated the idea of demanding NATO allies spend 3% of gross domestic product on defense, a higher target than alliance members have agreed to and a warning shot that signals even more tension if he returns to the White House.

   The idea of calling on NATO members to spend so much more than the current 2% goal – one that many allies have only recently met – came up in discussions at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week, according to people familiar with the conversations who asked not to be named because the issue isn’t public.

   These people said the elevated target is just an idea for now and hasn’t yet risen to formal policy for the Trump team. Trump has long complained that the allies don’t spend enough on their militaries, attacking members for falling short of a 2014 commitment to commit 2% of GDP to defense.

   The higher target would require hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending from allies already struggling to control government debt. Only three NATO nations — Poland, the US and Greece — spent 3% or more of their GDP on defense last year, according to NATO.

   One person familiar with Trump’s position described the latest figure as a negotiating tactic meant to pressure allies not to get complacent as they boost defense spending. At a NATO summit in 2018, Trump suggested allies spend even more than that — 4% of GDP — on defense, a target even the US doesn’t currently meet.

   Such a demand would put Trump in line with Poland’s President President Andrzej Duda, who forged a bond with Trump when he was US president and called on NATO earlier this year to meet a 3% target. The three Baltic states have all pledged to raise their defense spending to 3% of GDP.

   Although Trump can demand changing the NATO target, doing so officially would need the approval of all alliance members. In 2014, NATO nations agreed to the so-called Wales Declaration, a non-binding commitment in which they aimed “to move toward the 2% guideline” within a decade.

   NATO defense spending has become a major talking point in the US presidential campaign, with Trump suggesting at a rally in Florida early in July that he wouldn’t honor alliance commitments to mutual defense if a country isn’t meeting its spending targets.

   “President Trump got our allies to increase their NATO spending by demanding they pay up,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “When President Trump returns to the Oval Office, he will restore peace and rebuild American strength and deterrence on the world stage.”

   Another person confirmed the higher target had been discussed in Milwaukee but there was some debate about whether setting it would be a good idea. The person said the lower target is a useful cudgel because all member states had committed to it, whereas setting a higher goal would be impossible to enforce and might fracture alliance unity.

   Both Trump and the administration of President Joe Biden have sough to take credit for the rise in military spending by North Atlantic Treaty Organization allies over the last few years. In 2024, 23 of the alliance’s 32 members were set to spend at least 2% of GDP on defense, up from nine in 2020. More have pledged to hit the goal this year.

   The alliance itself has made clear that 2% is only a baseline and not a limit. A communique from a recent NATO leaders summit in Washington said spending beyond that target would be needed in some cases to address shortfalls.

   GLOBAL INSIGHT: NATO Defense Spending Up, But May Not Be Enough

2. This is a prime example of how negotiating with Trump works. He demands something, you meet the demand, and he simply demands more.

   I mean I think that in the current geopolitical climate spending 2% on defense is fine so I don’t care about that part but don’t give in to this bully on topics that matter more – there’s often nothing to be won by giving in to his demands.

3. Fighting with NATO? From which senile senior nursing home? Between diaper changes? And how is his ear not injured anymore? Harris will put him out to pasture. Just wait and see.

4. Dude, i had this exact discussion on this sub 3 months ago with some ‘brain dead’ users who were asking-> How can Trump even mingle with the Ukraine aid without support from Congress and all that … this was the reply -> increase the target spending for NATO members to 3% because for US 1% extra is pocket change but for Estonia, Letonia, Lithuania and what have we, exactly those states who are under the Russian radar for a snap invasion, for them, 1% is close to impossible on a short term.

   Pair this statement with the fact that the Orange Donald officially stated: “If they don’t pay the membership money, US will not help them anymore.”

   Indirect ways are the best ways in politics.

5. Trump is risking an important alliance to gain votes on a domestic debate.

   A not often-spoken-about topic is that NATO is very much about avoiding the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

   Nuclear weapons are the ultimate deterrent that your country will not be invaded.

   Pretty much every NATO member country has the know-how and means to produce nuclear weapons, but so far, there has been no need. The fact that the US has nuclear weapons is sufficient as long as the member states consider NATO’s Article 5 an adequate deterrent.

   If the NATO member states lose faith in the US’s willingness to provide a nuclear deterrence against invasion or the cost of membership vastly exceeds the cost of having your own nuclear weapons program, then NATO has lost a lot of its raison d’etre.

6. I don’t like Trump at all but this is not a bad idea. Poland has raised their defence spending to 4% of GDP and Estonia will do the same in 2025. Wanting the rest of EU to do more is not a bad thing at all.

   We don’t have to rely on US anymore if everyone invested at least 3% of their GDP into defence.

7. US should just
   Spend 2% of gdp for defense

   If europe wants to spend less or more, its up to them

   US has ocean moats, Europe has none

8. Every country bordering or near Russia meet the demands anyways.

9. Trump wants to leave nato. Making others not hit his goals is the perfect excuse to do so. Listen t podcasts on how he thonks. Its very simple and straightforward.

10. Moving the goal posts. The nicest people.

11. I honestly think that Trump believes that the 2% goal, is that 2% of GDP of NATO nations is to be paid to the Trump personally.

12. This is just one more reason why a defense union in the EU makes sense.

13. both sides of this are in the wrong. NATO countries (but also Swiss, Ireland etc) that are free riding on defence by not keeping the 2% level and Trump with his bully style negotiations .