Trump Takes Aim at NATO Defense Spending: "Absurd for U.S. to Bear Burden Alone"

U.S. President Donald Trump has clashed with NATO, raising issues over the disparity in defense spending among member nations.

On the night of July 2 (local time), President Trump wrote on his Truth Social account, "It is absurd that the U.S. continues this one-way street when it is not even a mutual relationship," adding, "They were not there for us!!!"

Along with the post, he shared a bar graph that appeared to target the gap in defense spending between the United States and major European countries within NATO.

The graph, labeled with a large "NATO" at the top, showed U.S. spending at 999 billion dollars.

In contrast, it indicated that the United Kingdom spent 90.5 billion dollars, France 66.5 billion dollars, Italy 48.8 billion dollars, and Poland 44.3 billion dollars.

It appears President Trump intended to highlight the defense spending gap between the U.S. and other NATO member states.

Earlier that same morning, President Trump also posted on Truth Social, claiming, "The U.S. spends more money on NATO than any other country, but we get no benefits in return."

He criticized the situation as "ridiculous," noting that from 2014 to 2025, the U.S. spent 999 billion dollars, while the U.K. spent 90.5 billion dollars, France 66.5 billion dollars, and Italy 48.8 billion dollars, with other members like Germany spending even less.

Under his "America First" policy for his second term, President Trump has been pressuring NATO members to increase their defense spending, accusing them of "free-riding."

President Trump is scheduled to attend the annual NATO summit in Turkey, which will be held from July 7 to 8.

The scale of U.S. troop deployments and military spending by allies are expected to be key agenda items at this summit.

Signs of the Trump administration's pressure on NATO are increasingly coming to light.

In an exclusive report on the same day, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) revealed behind-the-scenes details that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth had planned to make a "bombshell announcement" regarding NATO last month but later withdrew it.

Citing multiple sources, the WSJ reported that Hegseth had intended to announce at a NATO meeting in Brussels, Belgium, that the U.S. was preparing for further reductions in U.S. troops stationed in Europe.

The plan reportedly involved cuts beyond the cancellation of an armored brigade deployment to Poland and the withdrawal of an infantry brigade from Romania.

However, the WSJ reported that Hegseth's plan was canceled after being shared with high-ranking officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.