“Defence spending and burden-sharing will be high on the agenda” as NATO said in a statement released ahead of the summit of the 29 Allies in Brussels today and tomorrow (July 11, 12). NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg noted that “we expect 8 Allies to spend at least 2 percent of GDP on defence this year, compared to just 3 Allies in 2014.” In additional, he estimated that European Allies and Canada will add an “extra 266 billion US dollar” to defence between now and 2024.
But a showdown is expected in the summit as US President Donald Trump continued to blasts his own allies ahead of the meeting.
He tweeted yesterday:
That was followed by European Council President Donald Tusk’s unusually blunt response:
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Trump then followed up by:
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