Trump: US does not have to stick to a new NATO standard of 5 percent

The United States does not have to stick to the new NATO standard of 5 percent of President Donald Trump himself, he told journalists on Friday.

“We have worn NATO for so long, so I don’t think we should,” said Trump. “But I do think that the NATO countries have to do that, absolutely.”

NATO boss Mark Rutte has proposed after a fierce insistence of Trump that all Member States should spend 3.5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense and 1.5 percent of things that the army also benefits from, such as infrastructure and cyber safety.

The United States spent 3.4 percent of their GDP on Defense last year, so are almost the first part of the new standard.

Resistance Spain

At the same time, Trump called Spain to stop the opposition to the raised NATO standard. “I think Spain has to pay what the rest pays,” he said. “Spain is notorious because it pays so little.”

Spain currently spends 1.3 percent of his GDP on Defense, while the current standard is 2 percent. The Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez refuses to agree to an increase in the standard, as Trump and Rutte want.

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