Biden on Tuesday criticized Trump's "encouragement" of Russia's invasion of NATO members last week as shameful and dangerous. NATO announced today that two-thirds of its member countries will meet the target of 2% of GDP for defense spending by 2024, including Germany, which has recently increased its military spending significantly.
Trump said over the weekend that he was "encouraged" Russia to invade countries that are not meeting its financial obligations to NATO. In this regard, Biden of the United States on February 13 attacked Trump's remarks as "equivalent to capitulating to Russia's Putin".
Speaking at a campaign rally on Feb. 10, Trump said of an unnamed country at a NATO meeting, asking if the United States would come to Russia's aid if it failed to comply with NATO's defense spending guidelines. Trump's reply was: no, and he would "encourage" Russia to "do whatever it wants."
When Biden called on House Speaker Johnson (Mike Johnson) to submit the military aid package for Ukraine and Israel passed by the Senate to the House of Representatives for voting at the White House on the 13th, he said to Trump's remarks: "Can you imagine that a former American ** would say that? The whole world heard, and the worst thing was that he was serious. He harshly criticized Trump's remarks as "shameful, dangerous, and inconsistent with the spirit of the United States" and "tantamount to inviting Russia to invade America's allies."
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that any hint that the alliance states do not defend each other would undermine the security of all member states. EU Foreign Affairs Representative Josep Borrell criticized Trump's remarks as "scary and dangerous", and he also added that the Western defense alliance cannot follow the mood of the United States and become a "menu-style" alliance that allows people to order food.
NATO's Article 5 agreement ensures that member states assist each other in defending themselves in the event of an attack, while Article 3 agreement stipulates that member states must also make appropriate "efforts" to develop their own defense capabilities. The so-called effort included a pledge by member states at the 2014 Wales summit to spend 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence, but some countries have yet to achieve this goal.
Keith Kellogg, a former national security adviser to the Trump campaign, proposed on Tuesday that NATO members should be stripped of Title V protections if their defense spending falls short of 2 percent of GDP. He mentioned the possibility of other, less severe sanctions, such as lost training or the opportunity to share equipment resources, and added that member states should be able to withdraw from NATO at will.
Kellogg also said that if Trump wins the U.S. in November, he may propose to Trump that a meeting be held next year to discuss the future of NATO. He said NATO could then become a "tiered alliance" in which members who adhered to the terms of NATO's founding would enjoy more protection. Kellogg declined to say whether the proposals had been discussed with Mr. Trump, and the Trump campaign did not respond to his remarks, but the team had previously designated Kellogg as its policy adviser.
At a NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, Stoltenberg said that 18 of the 31 NATO countries will achieve the target of 2% of GDP for defense spending by 2024. Among them, Germany is also on the list of qualified for the first time. Stoltenberg added that NATO's European members will spend a total of $380 billion on defense this year.
According to NATO's previous estimates, 11 allies have reached the 2% target by 2023: the United States, Poland, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, the United Kingdom and Slovakia.
Recently, German politicians and experts have been calling for a stronger defense. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius also said that NATO must be prepared for the possibility of Russia attacking NATO members in the next five to eight years.
As can be seen from the amount of defense spending reported by the Federal Government**, Germany is preparing for the future. According to the German news agency dpa, Germany reported to NATO the equivalent of 734 defense spending this year$100 million, or 2 percent of its GDP01%。This is a record figure for Germany and the first time since 1992 that it has exceeded this share of defense spending. During the Cold War, West Germany's military spending was usually higher than 3%.