Foreign Affairs
Germany Rejects Trump’s Claims It Owes NATO ‘Vast Sums Of Money’
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German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen released a statement Sunday in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s claims Germany owes NATO “vast sums of money” for defense.
Trump said Germany needs to contribute more to the NATO alliance in a series of tweets following his Friday meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Despite what you have heard from the FAKE NEWS, I had a GREAT meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Nevertheless, Germany owes…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017
…vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 18, 2017
Von der Leyen released a statement in response to the tweets, saying “there is no account where debts are registered with NATO.” She further questioned the way NATO calculates military spending.
“Defense spending also goes into UN peacekeeping missions, into our European missions and into our contribution to the fight against IS terrorism,” von der Leyen said.
Von der Leyen called on NATO Friday to revise its spending criteria and adopt an “activity index” instead. (RELATED: Germany Wants To Change NATO’s Spending Criteria)
“For me the question is who is really providing added value to the alliance,” von der Leyen told AFP in an interview published Friday.
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