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| NATO country leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump (L) Canada’s Prime Minster Justin Trudeau (L Top) and Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May (R) react during an aerial fly-pass at the new NATO headquarters in Brussels |
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday intensified his accusations that NATO allies were not spending enough on defence and said more attacks such as this weekโs bombing in Manchester would take place unless the alliance did more to stop militants.
In unexpectedly abrupt remarks as NATO leaders stood alongside him, Trump also said certain member countries owed โmassive amounts of moneyโ to the United States and NATO.
His scripted comments contrasted with NATOโs choreographed efforts to play up the Westโs unity by inviting Trump to unveil a memorial to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States at the new NATO headquarters.
โWe will never waiver in our determination to defeat terrorism and achieve lasting security, prosperity and peace,โ Trump said in the speech before a dinner with leaders.
โTerrorism must be stopped orโฆthe horror you saw in Manchester and so many other places will continue forever,โ Trump said, referring to Mondayโs suicide bombing in the northern English city that killed 22 people, including children.
Trump called on NATO, an organisation founded on collective defence against the Soviet threat, to include limiting immigration in its tasks as well as fighting terrorism and deterring Russia.
NATO leaders wanted Trump on Thursday to publicly support the military alliance that he had called โobsoleteโ during his campaign. But he instead returned to an old grievance about Europeโs drop in defence spending since the end of the Cold War.
SPENDING DISPUTE
โTwenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying for their defence,โ Trump said, standing by a piece of the wreckage of the Twin Towers.
โThis is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States, and many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years,โ Trump said as the other leaders watched.
Praise was always going to be in shorter supply at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation after Trumpโs sharp election campaign criticism of the alliance, which he blamed for not doing more to combat terrorism.
Leaders had hoped for more, although a White House official insisted Trump, by being a member of the alliance, supported NATOโs collective defence clause, which stipulates that an attack on one ally is an attack against all.
Before Trump spoke, Belgiumโs premier Charles Michel said it was time to โdefend the values of the free worldโ while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said NATO was central to the Westโs security.
NATO still strived to impress Trump with military bands, allied jets flying overhead and a walk through the new glass-and-steel headquarters, which replaces a leaking, 1960s prefab structure.
Trump, a real estate magnate, called the building โbeautifulโ and joked that he did not dare ask how much it cost.
But it was left to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg to carry through most of the planned pomp and to try to hammer home the message of unity.
โNATO is more than a club, more than an organisation. NATO embodies the unique bond between Europe and North America,โ Stoltenberg said. โAs we raise our flags today, our alliance stands strong united and resolute,โ he said.
In one nod to Trump, NATO leaders are due to agree later on Thursday for the Western military bloc to join the U.S.-led, 68-nation coalition against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.
