NATO chief touts record defense spending, pushes back on Trump’s remarks

Source: The Hill | February 14, 2024 | Brad Dress

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that alliance members have increased defense spending in record numbers and pushed back against former President Trump, who last week suggested he would allow an attack on European nations that didn’t spend enough.

Stoltenberg said European allies and Canada increased defense spending by 11 percent last year, and 18 alliance members are on track to meet the goal of spending 2 percent of economic output on security needs.

That’s a major step up from 2014, when only three members met the 2 percent goal and when the alliance pledged all members would have to meet the minimum target, Stoltenberg noted.

“We are making real progress,” the NATO chief said in a press conference. “European allies are spending more.”

Stoltenberg also touted the 75-year history of NATO as an effective security alliance because allies have always vowed to defend each other, contrasting that with Trump, who suggested at a weekend campaign rally that he would let Russia attack allies who were “delinquent” contributors.

“Any suggestion that we are not standing up for each other, that we are not going to protect each other, that does undermine the security of all of us,” Stoltenberg said. “It is so important that [we] … communicate clearly that we stand by NATO’s commitment to protect and defend all allies.”

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