Secretary of State Rex Tillerson demands NATO allies pay up as he says it’s ‘no longer sustainable’ for U.S. to fund everyone’s defense

Friday, March 31, 2017
By Paul Martin

‘It is no longer sustainable for the US to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO’s defense expenditures,’ Tillerson said Friday
NATO alliance includes 28 member countries, but the U.S. pays a disproportionate amount of money toward the group’s common defense
Secretary of Defense James Mattis warned in February that Washington could ‘moderate’ its commitment if allies fail to pay up

DailyMail.com
31 March 2017

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pressed NATO allies Friday to ramp up military spending and denounced Russia’s ‘aggression’ in Ukraine, toughening the Trump administration’s tone toward Moscow.

Tillerson delivered the message as he met fellow NATO foreign ministers for the first time ahead of a May 25 summit to be attended by leaders including President Donald Trump.

‘As President Trump has made clear, it is no longer sustainable for the US to maintain a disproportionate share of NATO’s defense expenditures,’ Tillerson said in Brussels.

He urged his fellow foreign ministers to agree at the May summit to produce plans by the end of the year to meet the spending pledge.

NATO countries originally agreed at a summit in Wales in 2014 to contribute the equivalent of two percent of their gross domestic product to defence.

Seeking to draw a line under the funding row, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has sought to play down concerns that Trump is less committed to the 28-nation alliance than his predecessors.

‘We see a strong US commitment to NATO, to the transatlantic bond not only in words but also in deeds,’ Stoltenberg said, citing increased US military deployments in eastern Europe.

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