NATO members don't owe money for failing to meet the NATO guideline of spending 2% of national GDP on defence. That's not how it works. You can argue, if you want, that they've been metaphorically delinquent, but Trump regularly suggests they're in actual debt, which is not true. pic.twitter.com/ucAFSzOOTv
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 10, 2018
Once again, the 2% commitment is a goal set by NATO allies for 2024. https://t.co/0fIiCfyP5a
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 10, 2018
Once again, Trump has this wrong. The 2% spending target is not a current commitment but a goal set for 2024, still six years away. No one is "delinquent" or owes the US any payments. https://t.co/cmWjSPZBKk
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) July 10, 2018
Just for context, pls remember that “delinquent for many years in payments” does not apply to any real occurrence in the real world.
-NATO does not have “dues”
-Its “collective defense” clause has been invoked only once in history: for *other nations* to help the US after 9/11 https://t.co/WmiF59ZMjm— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) July 10, 2018
There are no accounts by which the U.S. is "paying for 90% of NATO." In terms of total defence spending by members of the alliance, the U.S. is paying 72%, according to NATO's most recent annual report. And the U.S. pays an agreed-upon, consistent 22% of NATO's actual budget. pic.twitter.com/IXg9yEOUUs
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 9, 2018
The only way it's "Not fair to the U.S. taxpayer" is if Trump thinks that if European countries spent more on their militaries, we'd spend less on ours. Given that he wants US military spending to be as large as possible, that seems unlikely. https://t.co/efb6Jnhykn
— Paul Waldman (@paulwaldman1) July 10, 2018
What if Trump isn't trying to get NATO to pay more for defense? What if he's trying to precipitate a split? https://t.co/KSSseBSIG5 pic.twitter.com/3LCU95HW3R
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) July 10, 2018
update 7/12 – almost identical to Trump’s lie documented by Dale on 7/9. Trump lies endlessly.
Daniel Dale has to be one of the most exhausted people on the planet. https://t.co/2iX26M7yBm
— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) July 12, 2018
Sad! 