Current:Home > StocksNATO chief hails record defense spending and warns that Trump’s remarks undermine security-InfoLens
NATO chief hails record defense spending and warns that Trump’s remarks undermine security
View Date:2024-12-23 11:50:46
BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that European allies and Canada have ramped up defense spending to record levels, as he warned that former U.S. President Donald Trump was undermining their security by calling into question the U.S. commitment to its allies.
Stoltenberg said that U.S. partners in NATO have spent $600 billion more on their military budgets since 2014, when Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine prompted the allies to reverse the spending cuts they had made after the Cold War ended.
“Last year we saw an unprecedented rise of 11% across European allies and Canada,” Stoltenberg told reporters on the eve of a meeting of the organization’s defense ministers in Brussels.
In 2014, NATO leaders committed to move toward spending 2% of their gross domestic product on defense within a decade. It has mostly been slow going, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago focused minds. The 2% figure is now considered a minimum requirement.
“This year I expect 18 allies to spend 2% of the GDP on defense. That is another record number and a six-fold increase from 2014 when only three allies met the target,” Stoltenberg said.
On Saturday, Trump, the front-runner in the U.S. for the Republican Party’s nomination this year, said he once warned that he would allow Russia to do whatever it wants to NATO members that are “delinquent” in devoting 2% of GDP to defense.
President Joe Biden branded Trump’s remarks “dangerous” and “un-American,” seizing on the former president’s comments as they fuel doubt among U.S. partners about its future dependability on the global stage.
Stoltenberg said those comments call into question the credibility of NATO’s collective security commitment -– Article 5 of the organization’s founding treaty, which says that an attack on any member country will be met with a response from all of them.
“The whole idea of NATO is that an attack on one ally will trigger a response from the whole alliance and as long as we stand behind that message together, we prevent any military attack on any ally,” Stoltenberg said.
“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,” he said.
veryGood! (6535)
Related
- Eva Longoria Shares She and Her Family Have Moved Out of the United States
- A record on the high seas: Cole Brauer to be first US woman to sail solo around the world
- EAGLEEYE COIN: El Salvador Educates Students on Bitcoin
- California voters will set matchups for key US House races on Super Tuesday
- It's about to be Red Cup Day at Starbucks. When is it and how to get the free coffee swag?
- EAGLEEYE COIN: Cryptocurrency Exchanges - Hubs for Secure and Trustworthy Digital Assets
- Bitcoin bounces to an all-time high less than two years after FTX scandal clobbered crypto
- Nevada Democratic US Sen. Jacky Rosen, at union hall rally, makes reelection bid official
- 2024 'virtually certain' to be warmest year on record, scientists say
- LA County’s progressive district attorney faces crowded field of 11 challengers in reelection bid
Ranking
- Veterans Day restaurant deals 2024: More than 80 discounts, including free meals
- EAGLEEYE COIN: El Salvador Educates Students on Bitcoin
- EAGLEEYE COIN: Cryptocurrency Exchanges - Hubs for Secure and Trustworthy Digital Assets
- A month after cyberattack, Chicago children’s hospital says some systems are back online
- 'Dangerous and unsanitary' conditions at Georgia jail violate Constitution, feds say
- EAGLEEYE COIN: Blockchain Technology - Reshaping the Future of the Financial Industry
- JetBlue scraps $3.8 billion deal to buy Spirit Airlines
- Arkansas voters could make history with 2 Supreme Court races, including crowded chief justice race
Recommendation
-
How Alex Jones’ Infowars wound up in the hands of The Onion
-
Chick-fil-A tells customers to throw out a popular dipping sauce
-
Immigration judges union, a frequent critic, is told to get approval before speaking publicly
-
Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Threads down in widespread outage
-
Deebo Samuel explains 'out of character' sideline altercation with 49ers long snapper, kicker
-
More people filed their taxes for free so far this year compared to last year, IRS says
-
It's NFL franchise tag deadline day. What does it mean, top candidates and more
-
Apple fined almost $2 billion by EU for giving its music streaming service leg up over rivals'