Trump puts NATO under pressure over defense budget

washington - US President Donald Trump is putting NATO countries under pressure to spend more money on defense. At the NATO summit, next week in Brussels, he will tell the participating countries that the United States is not the 'biggest piggy bank in the world', his spokesperson said.

Tuesday was already known through The New York Times that Trump sent several NATO countries, including the Netherlands, a firm letter in which the countries were urged to increase their defense spending to 2 percent of the gross domestic product, as agreed in 2014. In the letter Trump would implicitly threaten with a reduced US military presence in Europe.

Just last week it became known that the Pentagon is investigating the reduction of American troops in Germany. Germany in particular gets criticism from Trump. The country has a role model in NATO, according to the American president.

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