- President Donald Trump's rhetoric on the NATO alliance has often been misleading, and he has distorted how the historic alliance is funded and operates.
- NATO is based on the notion of collective defense, which also requires collective spending.
- Trump's questionable remarks on NATO have led to criticism from leaders at home and abroad.
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Here's how NATO's budget actually works
President Donald Trump's rhetoric on NATO has often been misleading and he's distorted how the historic alliance is funded and operates.
Since taking office, President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO over how the alliance is funded and pressured other member states to increase defense spending.
In the process, he has made a number of misleading claims about NATO, distorting how it works and why it exists in the first place.
In July, for example, Trump tweeted, "
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The president is correct that his predecessors also pressured other NATO member states to increase defense spending, but his claim that member states must pay the US for "protection" misrepresents how NATO works.
NATOs roots
There is an underlying truth to Trump's criticism of NATO that the US spends a significant amount of money and provides an extraordinary amount of resources and manpower to the protection of Europe and Asia. But the US benefits a great deal from this, and US involvement in NATO has long helped it solidify its role as one of the globe's leading powers, if not the most powerful country in the world.
Moreover, Trump's remarks on NATO seem to suggest that Europe must pay the US for protection from Russia, when this is not how the alliance is meant to function. Not to mention, Trump already has a dubious relationship with Russia at a time when much of the world, especially Europe, is concerned about its aggressive military activities.
In this context, Trump's criticism of NATO has been condemned by politicians on both sides of the aisle in the US as well as by other world leaders and foreign policy experts.
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Trump reportedly broke diplomatic protocol at this year's NATO summit by referring to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by her first name, and his intense demands regarding defense spending saw NATO leaders enter a special emergency session.
"We're very happy and have a very, very powerful, very, very strong NATO. Much stronger than it was two days ago," Trump said in an unscheduled statement.
During a press conference on July 30, for example, Trump claimed
Trump further claimed "
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