BORIS JOHNSON today claimed US President-elect Donald Trump was “quite right” to threaten not to defend NATO allies if they don’t spend enough on their military.
From Express
During the US presidential campaign, the controversial businessman branded the defence alliance “obsolete” and accused other NATO members of “ripping off” America by “not paying their fair share”.
President-elect Trump also insisted he would only come to the rescue of European nations under attack from Russia if they had “fulfilled their obligations” to NATO.
Members of the alliance are required to set a target of spending two per cent of GDP on defence.
In 2015, a report found just five of NATO’s 28 members had met the spending goal.
Appearing at a press conference in Islamabad, Pakistan, this morning, Mr Johnson was quizzed over whether he believed President-elect Trump and EU plans for greater defence co-operation were threatening NATO.
The Foreign Secretary said: “What the President-elect has said is that other NATO countries should be paying the right rate for the support of the military alliance.
“And I have to say in that respect he is quite right and it’s a point that the UK Government also makes.
“We are the country that spends the second most, we spend the second most per capita as well, two per cent of our GDP and I think that’s the right thing to do.
“We need a strong NATO alliance and I think the President-elect is quite right to draw attention to the need to finance that alliance properly.”
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