NATO leaders meet for what could be a historic summit or a divided one
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump and his NATO counterparts will meet formally Wednesday for a summit that could unite the world’s biggest security organization around a new defense spending pledge or widen divisions among the allies.
Just a week ago, things had seemed rosy. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte was optimistic the European members and Canada would commit to invest at least as much of their economic growth on defense as the United States does for the first time.
Then Spain rejected the new NATO target for each country to spend 5% of its gross domestic product on defense, calling it “unreasonable.” Trump insists on that figure, but doesn’t say it should apply to America. The alliance operates on a consensus that requires the backing of all 32 members.
Trump has since lashed out at Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government, saying: “NATO is going to have to deal with Spain. Spain’s been a very low payer.” He also criticized Canada as “a low payer.”
https://apnews.com/article/nato-summit-military-spending-trump-ukraine-iran-17b6d6b193300baa492ef313c9aa629e