Trump claims victory at end of NATO summit

President Donald Trump on Thursday said several European allies agreed to increase their defense spending after concerns the United States could pull out of the military alliance sparked an emergency session. Trump at the end of the two-day summit in Brussels said the member nations agreed to boost their defense budgets to 2 percent of their national income. “Yesterday I let them know that I was extremely unhappy with what was happening,” Trump said. “They have substantially upped their commitment and now we’re very happy and have a very, very powerful, very, very strong NATO.” He added that the U.S. commitment to NATO remains “very strong.”

U.S. leaders had repeatedly called on countries belonging to the 29-member bloc to share equally the defense burden. NATO members had pledged in 2014 to increase their spending to 2 percent of their gross domestic products by 2024. At the moment, only five member nations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, meet that target. French President Emmanuel Macron said Trump did not threaten to pull out of NATO and said the member countries did not commit to any increase in defense spending beyond the agreement for 2024.