US patience ‘won’t endure forever’: Pence tells NATO to spend more, or else
RT.com
20 Feb, 2017
The US is committed to partnership with NATO and the EU, but expects its allies to live up to the promise of paying for their own defense by the end of 2017, Vice President Mike Pence said during a visit to the NATO headquarters in Brussels.
During his visit to Brussels, Secretary of Defense James Mattis “spoke very plainly about the frustration of the American people” that the US currently provides over 70 percent of NATO’s funding, Pence told reporters on Monday, standing alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
“I don’t know what the answer is to ‘or else’, but I know that the patience of the American people will not endure forever,” he said, asked what specifically the US would do if NATO members failed to meet the goal.
“It is my privilege to express strong support of President Trump and the USA for NATO and our transatlantic alliance,” Pence said. “America will do our part, but Europe’s defense requires Europe’s commitment as much as ours.”
Reminding the press that NATO leaders agreed to spend at least 2 percent of the GDP on their military back in 2014 during the summit in Wales, Pence pointed out that many countries “still lack a clear, credible path to meet this minimum goal.”
“If you don’t have a plan, get one,” he said. “The world needs NATO’s strength and leadership now more than ever.”
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