I am disappointed by U.S. political attacks against President Donald Trump’s desire to have NATO members pay their fair share of self-defense costs. This should not be a political issue. Both Democrats and Republicans should be united in their desire to have NATO members meet their fair share of defense obligations so as to enable NATO to be a stronger and more effective alliance.
All NATO members realize that the alliance benefits all of its members. The issue is that some members deliberately contribute less than agreed upon and reap the benefits of the alliance at the expense of the other members. Their argument is that they will pay whatever they choose to pay, receive the full benefits of the alliance, and the shortfall will be made up by the other members because they also benefit from the alliance.
These members wrongly claim that President Trump is endangering the alliance. To the contrary, it is the members that are not making their full contributions to the alliance that are endangering it. They are creating an alliance that is weak and will not have the military resources to fulfill its mission. This became evident over the last two years as NATO countries ran short of military equipment and munitions and were not able to assist Ukraine to the extent necessary.
The myopic and vociferous response from European leaders regarding President Trump’s most recent remarks is nothing short of shameless. NATO was created in 1949 with one principal mission—to defend Europe against the expansionist desires of Josef Stalin and communist Russia, which Vladimir Putin’s Russia continues today. Europe needs to look within, at its own failures, and fix those, rather than blame President Trump for pointing them out. Frankly, they should thank President Trump for asking NATO members to meet their respective defense obligations in order to maintain a strong and effective alliance.
Although many countries increased their defense spending during the Trump administration, most NATO countries have still not reached the 2 percent of GDP defense contribution threshold established by the Wales Pledge. This agreement was reached by NATO members in 2014 and formalized goals that had been in place since 2006.
To be clear, NATO requires that each member country contribute to NATO’s joint defense obligations by contributing military personnel, equipment, and munitions as may be needed. In order to ensure that NATO is prepared to effectively respond to military threats, each member country is required to spend a specified amount on its own military and defense structures. These expenditures are not a payment to the United States, another country, or a third party. Each member country has agreed to maintain defense capabilities at strategic and operational levels so that they may be drawn upon and contribute to the common defense of the member states.
Failure to regularly meet the annual payment threshold is significant because each member’s defense resources cannot be bolstered overnight—maintaining the necessary military defense resources entails long-term planning and long lead times for the acquisition or production of equipment, munitions, and the training of armed service members.
What do these percentages mean in reality? It means that in 2023 the United States had an $816 billion defense budget (exclusive of an additional $30 billion national security funding) available to fund its military contributions to NATO. All of the other NATO members together, in the aggregate, spent only $347 billion on their defense obligations. In other words, all NATO members other than the United States, together contributed only 30 percent of what NATO spends on defense. The United States contributed 70 percent of the NATO bill.
What is evident is that these numbers are upside down. The United States, with half as many people, is paying 70 percent of all costs to defend twice as many people. It is inequitable.
The Wales Pledge was intended to be a fair allocation between NATO member states, based on their respective GDP, as a measure of each country’s economic ability to contribute to European national security and collective defense. However, when member countries consistently do not meet their annual defense spending targets so as to have resources available for NATO when necessary, but rather prefer to allocate their resources to other priorities, it results in the alliance not having the military resources and ability to effectively protect its member states against Russian aggression. If a country does not think highly enough of its own defense obligations and the appurtenant risks of not funding its own defense, it should not be allowed to endanger the national security of the other member countries.
It is ironic that it is these same countries, which do not pay their fair share, that scream the loudest and criticize the United States for not covering their obligations as well. The idea that the United States would abandon Europe is not realistic. We need to go back no further than the end of World War II to prove our commitment to Europe. The United States helped rebuild Europe after the war and rebuilt Germany under the Marshall Plan. The United States maintains military bases and over 80,000 military personnel across Europe. The cost to the U.S. taxpayer is enormous and much greater than to the other NATO member taxpayers.
The reality is that since World War II, Russia remains the greatest threat to the Euro-Atlantic region and must be contained. European countries need to recognize the serious threat Russia poses to liberty, freedom, democracy, and economic stability. NATO is a great alliance that has served to deter Russian aggression against member states. President Trump’s wake-up call to delinquent NATO members should be greeted with mea culpas by them, not with arrogance and anger directed against President Trump.
Unfortunately, over the years many member states have at one time or another flirted with leaving NATO, have dealt with Russia outside of NATO in improvident arrangements, and disregarded NATO’s strategic positions with regard to Russia. France even had the temerity to ask the United States to vacate its military bases in France even though many cemeteries on French soil are filled with American servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to liberate it. France even went so far as to reduce its membership status in NATO for a period of time until French President Nicolas Sarkozy brought it back as a full participating member.
As the Ukraine war languishes, European countries are becoming less united, and some are even supporting various Russian positions. This is a dangerous national security situation for Europe and the United States. Delinquent European members need to recognize the dangers and meet their financial obligations to sustain NATO. Given the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the recent statements by Mr. Putin regarding potential invasions of other European countries, NATO members and non-members, it is reckless policy by any member state to not meet or exceed its Wales Pledge. Those member states not paying their agreed-upon fair share are not only endangering their own national security, but that of all of the other member states.
President Trump should be lauded, not criticized, for demanding that all NATO members take their collective defense obligations seriously, invest in their own defense forces, and, if they continue as members of the alliance, be good reliable members of the alliance The withdrawal of Russia from Ukraine and avoidance of the invasion of another country by Russia can only be achieved by a stronger and more committed NATO alliance.