Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger.— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
What is he talking about?
Member countries contribute in line with an agreed cost-sharing formula, based on Gross National Income. (GNI equals GDP plus income obtained in dividends, interest etc. from other countries.)The other factor is defense spending by member countries:
Under that formula, the U.S. contributes 22.144 percent of the NATO budget, followed by Germany (14.65 percent), France (10.63 percent) and Britain (9.84 percent).
Thirteen allies, mostly smaller former communist countries that joined the alliance after the fall of the Soviet Union and disintegration of Yugoslavia, pay less than one percent each – Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia.
NATO is based on the principle of collective defense: an attack against one or more members is considered an attack against all. So far that has only been invoked once -- in response to the September 11 attacks.So, there's defense spending per country, spent as they please; and there's money given to NATO to run the organization (personnel, office space, etc.). That's set by a formula. If Trump did jawbone NATO into ponying up more for each nation's defense, none of that money "pours in" to Brussels. If he persuaded them to pay their share per the formula, well, are they doing that already? Either way, given the way he insulted the democratic leaders of the NATO nations, why does he think he won anything?
To make the idea work, it is important for all members to make sure their armed forces are in good shape. So NATO sets an official target on how much they should spend. That currently stands at 2% of GDP.
The 2% target is described as a "guideline." There is no penalty for not meeting it.
It is up to each country to decide how much to spend and how to use the money.
Oh, he's not through; he's got a weeks worth of pent-up tweets to unleash:
Just left the #G7Summit. Had great meetings on everything, especially on trade where....— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
...."we push for the removal of all trade-distorting practices....to foster a truly level playing field."— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
Does he yet understand he has to negotiate trade with the European Union, not Germany?
Like the ones you saved at Carrier, that just got shipped to Mexico?Bringing hundreds of billions of dollars back to the U.S.A. from the Middle East - which will mean JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2017
THANK GOD MY CHOCOLATE RATIONS HAVE GONE UP THIS MONTH!!!!!
ReplyDelete