Officials in the various member states have recently been told by Trump’s team that the president-elect will demand that NATO member states increase their defense spending, it reports Financial Times and refer to sources.
Currently, NATO countries’ defense spending needs to be at least two percent of GDP – which 23 out of 32 member countries follow.
But Trump now wants them to pay more than double that, 5 percent. But according to the newspaper’s sources, he could settle for 3.5 percent – even a substantial increase.
“Quite certain” of support for Ukraine
Furthermore, the United States will continue to provide military aid to Ukraine during Donald Trump’s term, which goes against what he said during his presidential campaign.
Then Trump claimed, among other things, that he would end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours” by negotiating a settlement.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a telephone conversation with Trump on Thursday and afterwards expressed that he was “quite certain that the United States and Europe will continue to support Ukraine”.