Merkel Bends the Knee to Trump’s NATO Spending Demands

Carter May 11th, 2017 9:49 pm 45 Comments

Germany will be increasing defense spending in the years to come and will meet NATO’s target of 2% of GDP, Angela Merkel commented on Thursday.

POTUS Trump has been vocal about Germany’s failure to pay their fair share of the defense spending as it pertains to NATO. Germany currently only pays 1.2% of their GDP on defense.

The Daily Caller reports:

Merkel said the government intends to stand by the Cardiff agreement from 2014 and gradually invest more resources in defense.

“The entire German government agreed to the Cardiff agreement,” Merkel said at a press conference Thursday following her meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Politico reports. “We will adhere to this, and we will work towards it.”

Stoltenberg said he felt “encouraged” to see countries end years of defense cuts, which would lead to meeting the 2 percent target “in the long run.”

“I am very encouraged seeing what European NATO members and Canada have done,” he said. “What we promised was to stop the cuts, gradually increase and then move toward 2 percent, and actually Germany and many of the European allies have started to do exactly that.”

(via Vessel News)