End of NATO? Trump says USA should scrap treaty unless Europe pay more
DONALD Trump has openly questioned whether the US should withdraw from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and said that the US should only protect allies who pay their fair share of the burden.
Trump thinks US should withdraw from NATO
At the moment, only five of NATO’s 28 members meet the two per cent rule, which is that NATO requires its members to spent two per cent of their GDP on defence.
The nations to meet this requirement of the intergovernmental military alliance are the US, UK, Poland, Estonia and Greece.
Germany, France, Spain and Canada are some of the countries failing to meet this amount.
Only five NATO members spent two per cent of their GDP on defence
Trump's questioning comes as Sweden’s Government has refused to join NATO
However, defence spending can take years to manifest itself as it takes time to invest in and construct new defence systems.
This year, 22 NATO members are increasing their defence spending.
Critics claim that this two per cent statistic can be hard to read as countries can fall below this threshold and contribute more to NATO missions.
Jeremy Corbyn has also cast doubt over the future of NATO
For example, Denmark spends 1.17 per cent on defence but is an active contributor to the Afghanistan mission and anti-ISIS coalition.
Trump's questioning comes as Sweden’s Government has refused to join NATO with the Foreign Minister Margot Wallstroem claiming: “Our non-alignment policy serves us well.”
The minister added that NATO would expose Sweden to risks, both political and otherwise, and "we don’t think that’s the right direction".
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg
Last month Jeremy Corbyn called for NATO to be closed down, but defence chiefs warned that his comments about the organisation are “weakening western civilisation”.
France’s Marine Le Pen and Italy’s Beppe Grillo have also called for withdrawal from NATO.
MP Jacob Rees-Mogg endorses Trump on BBC Radio 4
The alliance was reported to be stationing troops in Eastern Europe in response to Russia’s aggressive actions and to reassure its allies.
The main aim of NATO as a military alliance is that an armed attack against one member should be considered as an attack against them all.