"They were not there for us": Trump calls US spending for NATO "ridiculous"
Washington, DC, July 3
US President Donald Trump has termed it "ridiculous" for Washington DC to continue supporting NATO, alleging that the member countries of the intergovernmental military alliance were "not there for us."
In a post on the Truth Social platform on Thursday (local time), Trump alleged that the US' relationship with NATO "is not reciprocal," sharing a chart of different countries' defence spending to NATO, with Washington's investment vastly more than other member states depicted, namely UK, Italy, France, and Poland.
"Ridiculous for the U.S.A. to continue along this one-sided path when the relationship is not reciprocal. They were not there for us!!! President DJT," he wrote.
On the other hand, last month, the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte, during his meeting with Trump, displayed charts showing how the US President has influenced NATO countries to increase their defence spending, and how it's benefiting US jobs and companies.
"I want to take you if you stay here I go over to these boards here because I want to show you what this president was able to achieve. And I start with this chart. This chart is about the Trump Trillion. The Trump Trillion shows you the increase Europeans and Canadians are paying into defence since you took office in 2017. Trump 45 plus Trump 47. A total of extra spent by the Europeans and the Canadians of 1.2 trillion. When you look at the effect of Trump 47, so the isolated effect of the extra defence spending in 2025 and 2026, you see almost 140 billion dollars extra spent nominal on defence by the Europeans and the Canadians and also this year you will again see an increase by about 120 billion which brings the total in two years of over 250 billion dollars," he said.
The NATO chief further presented hard data tying the European military buildup directly to domestic American employment, revealing that European investments and procurement are currently supporting a staggering 195,000 jobs across the United States.
"I can assure you this is because of Russia, because of the threat, but I'm also absolutely convinced that you being president of the United States, being consistently pushing for something which since Eisenhower has not been achieved, which is the Europeans equalizing their defense spending with the United States. This is your evidence. Then when it comes to jobs, look here. In total 195,000 jobs being supported by investment. Investment from European companies into the United States, 83,000 jobs supported by that. 112,000 jobs created by the fact that Europeans are massively about half of all their defense spending when it comes to defense industrial output is spent in the United States. 112,000 jobs. Last year they spent 54 billion dollars on US defence industrial output," he said.
According to Rutte, European nations spent $54 billion on US defense industrial output last year alone. Furthermore, he announced that European defense orders have generated a massive $300 billion backlog already locked into US defense contractors' order books for the coming years.
"There is now an order backlog of 300 billion. So 300 billion dollars of defence spending from Europeans buying this in the US over next couple of years which is already on the order book. Last year 54 billion, total now order book 300 billion. Totally almost 200,000 jobs. These are real jobs, real people. Like you had yesterday when you spoke in Pennsylvania, the people behind you," he said.
The remarks come ahead of the upcoming NATO Summit, scheduled to take place in Ankara, Turkey, from July 7 to July 8, 2026.
The summit will be held at the Bestepe Presidential Compound and will be chaired by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
— ANI
Reader Comments
I find it ironic that Trump is complaining about NATO not being reciprocal when the US has been the biggest beneficiary of this arrangement. Look at the numbers the NATO Secretary General just gave - 195,000 American jobs supported by European defense spending! And a $300 billion order backlog? If anything, Europe is doing America a favor by buying American weapons. Typical Trump drama to distract from real issues. 🙄
As an Indian watching this, I can't help but shake my head. The US has been the world's policeman for so long and now wants to quit? NATO is the reason Europe hasn't descended into chaos like we see in other parts of the world. Trump's "America First" approach might sound good to his base, but in reality, alliances matter. India has always valued strategic autonomy, but even we know the value of partnerships. This is just reckless.
I'm an American living in India, and I can tell you - most Americans don't realize how much NATO actually benefits us. Look at those job numbers! European countries are literally creating hundreds of thousands of US jobs through defense spending. Trump's whole "they weren't there for us" argument is nonsense. Article 5 was invoked after 9/11 and NATO allies stood with us in Afghanistan. We should be grateful, not complaining.
From an Indian strategic perspective, this is concerning. If America starts abandoning its alliances, what message does that send to countries like India who rely on the US as a counterbalance to China? The Quad, the Indo-Pacific strategy - all of these depend on US credibility. Trump's tantrums about NATO are just weakening America's position globally. Russia must be loving this.
D