‘Ridiculous’ for US to maintain current Nato support, Trump warns ahead of alliance summit | Donald Trump

Donald Trump said it was “ridiculous” for the US to continue its “unilateral” relationship with NATO less than a week before the military alliance summit in Ankara.

“They weren’t there for us!!!” Trump said on the Truth Social platform. he wrote. and Washington’s relationship with NATO is “non-reciprocal.”

The US president has repeatedly criticized his European allies for their response to the war in Iran, with many countries restricting the use of bases for American forces.

Trump also insists he wants Europe to take a leading role in its defense, and Washington has already moved to scale back its commitments.

His Real Social post The report, released Thursday, included a chart showing the amount of NATO spending, with the United States investing far more than several other member countries, including Britain and France.

Under pressure from Trump, NATO leaders agreed at a meeting last year to increase defense-related spending to 5 percent of GDP by 2035.

The US secretary of state said Trump was disappointed that NATO allies were refusing to take a more active role in attacking Iran.

Marco Rubio, who met with the alliance’s foreign ministers in May, emphasized that the dispute would be discussed at a meeting in the Turkish capital in July and that he expected the summit to be “one of the most important summits” in NATO’s 77-year history.

“The president’s views (frankly, disappointment) about some of our NATO allies and their reactions to our operations in the Middle East are well documented,” Rubio said. “This will need to be addressed.”

The NATO summit, which will bring together 32 member countries, will be held in Ankara on July 7 and 8.

Founded in 1949, the alliance became a U.S.-led defense force credited with maintaining stability in Europe, keeping the Soviet Union at bay, and solidifying Washington as a world power for decades to come.

With Agence France-Presse