daveman
Diamond Member
What dues were they?Trump insisted NATO members start paying their dues.
2% of GDP.
NATO Members ‘Stepping up,’ Agree To Pay More After Trump Labels Them 'Delinquents'
NATO nations are finally increasing their funding of their own defense, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday.In an interview with “Fox News Sunday,” Stoltenberg said that NATO nations have agreed to increase their contributions by $100 billion over the next two years.
In 2014, NATO partners agreed they would each spend 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense by 2024. Only four made the goal, with only 15 of the 29 member nations expected to meet it by the deadline.
Under Pressure from Trump, Allies Up NATO Contributions
NATO spending has increased for the sixth consecutive year thanks to new contributions from allies, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in prepared remarks Wednesday."We expect this trend to continue," Stoltenberg said. "Allies are also investing more in major capabilities … and continue to contribute to our missions and operations."
Canada and European countries' spending increased this year at a rate of 4.3 percent.
Ten NATO member countries—Romania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, France, Norway, the United Kingdom, Greece, and the United States—now meet the benchmark of 2 percent GDP spending on defense, up from only three member states in 2014.
Less encouraging are Germany and Canada's defense budgets, which are still under 1.6 percent of their GDPs.
The Trump administration has pulled a large contingent of American personnel out of Germany in an effort to induce Berlin to pay more of its defense burden.
While many in the foreign policy establishment have worried about the the Trump administration's approach to NATO, these findings point to a renewal in member countries' spending.