Trump Warns NATO to Boost Military Spending ahead of Brussels Summit

Local Editor

US President Donald Trump wrote to several NATO allies, asking them to increase their share of the costs for the military of the alliance and warning the United States is losing patience.

Trump sent letters last month to leaders of NATO allies including Germany, Belgium, Norway and Canada, ratcheting up tensions ahead of the NATO summit in Brussels next week, The New York Times reported.

Trump highlighted long-standing complaints that other countries are not contributing enough to NATO and that the US is bearing too much of the alliance's load.

Most of the content sent to the various leaders was similar, but sources told The Times that the message delivered to German Chancellor Angela Merkel had particularly tough language.

"As we discussed during your visit in April, there is growing frustration in the United States that some allies have not stepped up as promised,” the letter read.

"Continued German underspending on defense undermines the security of the alliance and provides validation for other allies that also do not plan to meet their military spending commitments because others see you as a role model," Trump wrote to Merkel.

He further claimed that the frustration was not just confined to the US government and the American people shared his views on the matter.

"It will, however, become increasingly difficult to justify to American citizens why some countries do not share NATO's collective security burden while American soldiers continue to sacrifice their lives overseas or come home gravely wounded.”

Trump has publicly chided NATO allies before, but the individual letters weeks before the July 11-12 summit of the alliance could set the stage for tensions.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team