Trump's NATO claims unravel as EU outspends US on Ukraine aid
Donald Trump once again criticises NATO allies. This time, it was about the aid given to Ukraine by the USA and Europe. The Republican candidate for President of the USA, however, missed the truth.
On social media, Trump claimed credit for the continued existence of the North Atlantic Alliance.
"If it weren’t for me as President, there probably would be no NATO by now. When I became President, I noticed that there were only 7 of the 28 Countries, that were then Members, who were paid up. Most Members were delinquent, some having paid very little, if anything," the politician wrote on the TRUTH Social platform.
He further stated that he "found it unacceptable" and that he pressured European countries "to pay". According to him, "no other president did anything" about the "long term delinquencies" of the allies.
Trump hits allies. "Europe owes us over £80 billion"
Trump assessed that the problem of insufficient contributions to NATO's budget became especially evident after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Now we have a similar problem. The US is paying most of the money to help Ukraine fight Russia. Europe should at least EQUALISE! They owe more than 100 Billion [$] (£80 billion) to do so. Crooked Joe has never even asked them to do so", wrote Donald Trump.
However, the Republican candidate is missing the truth. Available data indicate that European Union countries and the EU allocated more money for aid to Ukraine (over £88 billion) than the USA. However, the United States surpasses Europe regarding the value of military equipment provided.
NATO data also indicate that despite the increase in defence spending during Trump's presidency, allies significantly accelerated their spending during Joe Biden's presidency. Currently, 23 out of 32 countries meet the obligation to spend the equivalent of 2% of their GDP on defence - more than twice as many as two years ago.
Trump hits NATO. Disparaging words were spoken
In recent days, Trump has frequently spoken about NATO in his speeches. This is probably a deliberate tactic. At this time, an anniversary summit of the Alliance is being held in Washington.
- I didn't even know what the hell NATO was too much before, but it didn't take me long to figure it out, like about two minutes. And the first thing I figured out was that they weren't paying. We were paying, we were paying almost fully for NATO - Donald Trump said to his supporters during a Tuesday election rally at the Doral Golf Club in Florida.
