Trump Says NATO Was 'Essentially Going Out Of Business' Before His Presidency
- 6 years ago
President Trump on Monday spoke about his NATO meeting.
During a joint press conference call with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday, President Trump took credit for the increased NATO defense spending.
"NATO was essentially going out of business, because people weren't paying and it was going down, down, down," Trump told reporters. "I came along last year, and in a fairly nice tone, I said, you got to pay. And they paid $44 billion more. And this year, I said it in a little bit stronger tone, and they're paying hundreds of billions of dollars more over the years. And NATO will be strong again."
Trump made similar comments after the NATO summit earlier this month.
"Prior to last year, where I attended my first meeting, it was going down — the amount of money being spent by countries was going down and down very substantially. And now, it's going up very substantially," Trump said on July 12.
"I told people that I'd be very unhappy if they didn't up their commitments very substantially, because the United States has been paying a tremendous amount, probably 90 percent of the cost of NATO. And now, people are going to start and countries are going to start upping their commitments," Trump continued.
According to the New York Times, the president's Monday claim that NATO was "going out of business" is "an outright falsehood."
"As a share of their gross domestic products, spending by European members and Canada began to rise before Mr. Trump took office," the Times noted.
During a joint press conference call with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday, President Trump took credit for the increased NATO defense spending.
"NATO was essentially going out of business, because people weren't paying and it was going down, down, down," Trump told reporters. "I came along last year, and in a fairly nice tone, I said, you got to pay. And they paid $44 billion more. And this year, I said it in a little bit stronger tone, and they're paying hundreds of billions of dollars more over the years. And NATO will be strong again."
Trump made similar comments after the NATO summit earlier this month.
"Prior to last year, where I attended my first meeting, it was going down — the amount of money being spent by countries was going down and down very substantially. And now, it's going up very substantially," Trump said on July 12.
"I told people that I'd be very unhappy if they didn't up their commitments very substantially, because the United States has been paying a tremendous amount, probably 90 percent of the cost of NATO. And now, people are going to start and countries are going to start upping their commitments," Trump continued.
According to the New York Times, the president's Monday claim that NATO was "going out of business" is "an outright falsehood."
"As a share of their gross domestic products, spending by European members and Canada began to rise before Mr. Trump took office," the Times noted.