Published 12:22 IST, December 4th 2019
Donald Trump threatens 'delinquent' NATO members, says will be 'dealt differently'
The President of US Donald Trump threatened the 'delinquent' NATO allies among the 27 members who are unable to 'fulfil the commitments' of military defence.
The President of United States Donald Trump threatened the 'delinquent' NATO allies among the 27 members who are unable to 'fulfil the commitments' of military defence spending on December 3. Trump, who is currently visiting London for the 70th anniversary of the military alliance, NATO where the leaders of the countries have come together to discuss the future of alliance along with registering the 'current and emerging' security alliance'. It was just hours after the US President had insulted President of France, Emmanuel Macron and said 'nobody needs NATO more than France', when Trump threatened other members of the alliances, 'to deal with them in a different way'.
'Countries will be dealt with'
The US leader reportedly said that there are some countries that are not fulfilling their commitments under the alliance and those countries 'will be dealt with'. Trump said that he might deal with those specific members from a 'trade standpoint' and or in a different way. The US President was also seen praising the NATO alliance which he had criticized against the financial interests of Washington under his agenda of 'America First'. Trump said that 'NATO is becoming different, much bigger' than what it previously was because the people are now acting on their commitments. Trump also believes that 'it is not fair' to defend the countries in trouble who are unable to contribute at least two per cent of their spending on defence.
US and France
US President also met with the French President after the statements made by Trump. Macron also went in synergy with US leader's statements and acknowledged that America has 'invested decades after decades' and therefore Macron reportedly supports 'strong European component in NATO'. The recent statements made by Macron do not follow his previous remarks of calling NATO 'brain dead' which was also criticised by Trump and called it a 'very, very, nasty statement'. Trump has also proposed retaliatory tariffs on 100 per cent of the French goods against the digital tax which discriminates against American tech giants like Apple, Google.
In contrary to Trump's disagreements with France on trade and Macron's NATO comments, the US leader also praised the French President saying that he gave 'one of the greatest non-answers'. Trump also called Macron a 'great politician' when the French leader replied to a question about Islamic State fighters during the joint news conference on December 3. Macron believes that foreign fighters from European countries were a minority among ISIS troops. Therefore, it would not be helpful to focus on IS fighters which are captured in the Middle East. The question was originally directed towards Trump's view on France however, he jokingly passed it to his French counterpart.
(With inputs from agencies)
Updated 12:50 IST, December 4th 2019